Jackrabbits head back to Arkansas

Games 8-11: South Dakota State (3-4) at Central Arkansas (3-6) and vs. Missouri (5-4)

When	at Central Arkansas: Friday, March 1 (3 p.m.) \| Saturday, March 2 (6:30 p.m.) \| Sunday, March 3 (1 p.m.) vs. Missouri: Saturday, March 2 (3 p.m.)
Where	Bear Stadium \| Conway, Arkansas
TV	UCASports.com/Watch
Radio	UCA Broadcast: KUCA \| Missouri Broadcast: KTGR Radio
Live Stats	UCASports.com
Series Notes	South Dakota State \| Central Arkansas \| Missouri \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #RAB5

The South Dakota State University baseball team will embark on its annual Spring Break road trip, playing the first leg of its nine-game, 10-day journey with four games this weekend in Conway, Arkansas.

The Jackrabbits, 3-4 overall, are slated to play three games against host Central Arkansas, while also playing a neutral-site contest against Missouri. Video coverage of SDSU's three games against UCA and live stats for all four games will be available through UCASports.com.

The weekend schedule is as follows:
Friday, March 1
• SDSU at Central Arkansas, 3 p.m.
Saturday, March 2
• SDSU vs. Missouri, 3 p.m.
• SDSU at Central Arkansas, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 3
• SDSU at Central Arkansas, 1 p.m.
All games will be played at Bear Stadium in Conway, Arkansas.

Central Arkansas enters the weekend with a 3-6 overall record. The Bears split a four-game home series against Illinois State last weekend before dropping two mid-week games at Missouri State to open this week.

Missouri has compiled a 5-4 record so far this season in advance of a Friday night game against Central Arkansas. The Tigers are on a three-game winning streak after winning the final two games of a three-game series against Rhode Island last weekend in Fort Myers, Florida, followed by winning their home opener Tuesday against Alabama A&M by a 13-5 score.

The trip will be the second of the season to the state of Arkansas for the Jackrabbits, who opened the 2019 campaign with a three-game series against UT Martin that was moved to Russellville, Arkansas, due to the threat of inclement weather.

THE SERIES: The Jackrabbits hold a 1-9 combined all-time record against their two opponents this weekend.

vs. Central Arkansas (1-6)
UCA has won six of seven games against SDSU in a series that dates back to the 2008 campaign. The two programs met in a season-opening four-game series in 2008, with the Bears winning three times. The Jackrabbits' lone win came in the second game of the series — and first of a doubleheader — by posting a 3-2 victory.

SDSU tied the game at 2-all in the top of the sixth on a solo home run by Craig Parry, his third homer of the series, and scored what would be the winning run on an RBI double by Nick Adams in the top of the seventh. Caleb Thielbar started on the mound for the Jackrabbits, but did not factor in the decision.

The Jackrabbits and UCA met again for a three-game series during the 2009 season. The Bears recorded a sweep on their home field, including winning one-run games (8-7, 5-4) in the final two contests.

vs. Missouri (0-3)
The Jackrabbits are in search of its first win against Missouri as they will be meeting the Tigers for the first time since 2008. The two squads first played in 1982, with Missouri notching a 14-3 victory in a game played in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Missouri hosted SDSU for a two-game series March 18-19, 2008, winning by scores of 13-1 and 9-4.

LAST WEEK: The Jackrabbits escaped the cold and wintry weather by traveling to Port Charlotte, Florida, for the Snowbird Baseball Classic Feb. 22-24. SDSU won one of four games, splitting a pair of contests against Florida International before dropping two against returning NCAA postseason qualifier Northeastern.

Game 1: Recap | Box Score
Game 2: Recap | Box Score
Game 3: Recap | Box Score
Game 4: Recap | Box Score

STOVER HONORED: South Dakota State University left-hander Brady Stover was honored Feb. 18 as the first Summit League Pitcher of the Week for the 2019 season.

A junior from Huxley, Iowa, Stover pitched five shutout innings en route to the win in the Jackrabbits' 15-3 season-opening victory over UT Martin on Feb. 15. He racked up nine strikeouts — fanning at least one batter in every inning — while walking two and surrendering only two hits.

A CALL TO ARMS: South Dakota State pitchers combined to strike out 34 UT Martin batters in 26 innings and post a 2.42 team earned run average during their season-opening three-game series.

Brady Stover led the way with nine strikeouts over five innings in the Feb. 15 season opener, while freshman Nic McCay posted eight strikeouts in five innings during his collegiate debut Feb. 17.

Tyler Olmstead matched the team season high of nine strikeouts in six innings of a Feb. 23 start against Florida International that resulted in a no-decision. Olmstead has fanned a team-best 14 batters in nine innings so far this season.

SDSU has received at least five innings from its starting pitchers in five of seven games so far this season.

FROOM MAKES COMEBACK: Ryan Froom completed the long road back from injury by making his first appearance in nearly two years in the Feb. 16 game against UT Martin.

A sixth-year senior, Froom struck out five, walked four and surrendered three hits over five innings in finishing with a no-decision. Froom's last appearance was March 25, 2017, at Oral Roberts, when he suffered an arm injury. He missed the remainder of the 2017 season and was granted an injury hardship. Froom also sat out the entire 2018 campaign before rejoining the team this past fall.

The Crystal, Minnesota, native was a mainstay in the Jackrabbit rotation starting with his sophomore season in 2015. He currently ranks sixth in program history with 36 games started and also enters the weekend tied for eighth on the SDSU career charts with Chad Coley (1990-93) with 201 2/3 innings pitched.

POWER SURGE: The Jackrabbits rank in the top 20 among NCAA Division I baseball teams for home runs with an average of 1.43 round-trippers per game. SDSU has out-homered the opposition, 10-1, highlighted by a three-home run performance in the Feb. 15 opener against UT Martin.

Eight different players have accounted for the Jackrabbit home runs, with Braeden Brown and Logan Holtz leading the squad with two each.

Holtz and Ryan McDonald connected on back-to-back homers in the fifth inning of a Feb. 16 game against UT Martin. It was the first career home run for each and marked the second time in five games dating back to last season that the Jackrabbits hit consecutive home runs. Anthony Schneider and Tony Kjolsing led off a May 24 Summit League Baseball Championship game against Western Illinois with back-to-back homers.

SDSU has hit at least one home run in five of seven games so far this season.

YOUTH MOVEMENT: Four first-year players filled spots in the starting lineup in the Jackrabbits' Feb. 16 game against UT Martin. Drew Beazley batted out of the leadoff spot as the designated hitter, while Luke Ira (third base), Ryan McDonald (catcher) and Jamie Berg (center field) also were on the lineup card. McDonald led SDSU at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a home run.

Ira, who has started all seven games, currently leads the team with four extra base hits, while posting a .310 batting average and a .552 slugging percentage.

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State has been picked to finish second in the upcoming Summit League baseball race, according to a poll conducted among conference coaches that was announced Feb. 7 by league officials.

The Jackrabbits received one first-place vote, finishing with 21 points. Defending league champion Oral Roberts again paced the six-team race with five first-place votes and 25 points. North Dakota State completed the upper half of the poll with 17 points.

Rounding out the poll were: Western Illinois, 12 points; Omaha, 9 points, and Purdue Fort Wayne, 6 points.

In addition, the Jackrabbits' Nick Smith and Brady Stover were recognized among the Summit League's top players to watch.

A two-time all-Summit League honoree, Smith has posted a batting average of better than .300 each of the past two seasons. Smith, a senior from Chanhassen, Minnesota, hit at a .303 clip with 18 runs batted in en route to first-team honors as a utility player during the 2018 campaign.

Stover, a junior from Huxley, Iowa, posted a 3-2 record in 2018 with a 4.57 earned run average in 10 appearances, including nine starts. The left-hander struck out 63 batters in only 43.1 innings, setting an SDSU single-season record with an average of 13.09 strikeouts per nine innings. He also limited the opposition to a .203 batting average.

Summit League play is slated to begin March 15, when SDSU opens a three-game series at Western Illinois.

The top four teams during the regular season will advance to the 2019 Summit League Baseball Championship, which is scheduled for May 22-25 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

COACH BISHOP: Rob Bishop, who has guided college baseball teams to nearly 600 victories, was named head baseball coach at South Dakota State University on Aug. 1, 2016. Bishop is the ninth head coach in program history and the fourth in the Division I era of Jackrabbit baseball.

Now in his third season with the Jackrabbits, Bishop holds a 47-60 record at SDSU. In his first season, Bishop's 2017 squad returned to the winning side of the ledger with a 26-24 overall mark, including an 18-12 record for a third-place finish in The Summit League standings. SDSU won its opening-round game in the Summit League Baseball Championship, 6-5, over second-seeded North Dakota State.

In 2018, SDSU overcame a slow start to post a winning record in Summit League play at 14-13 and went on to reach the title game of the Summit League Baseball Championship. The Jackrabbits finished with an 18-32 overall record during a campaign in which they played only six home games.

Overall, Bishop holds a 596-382-1 record (.609 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach.

Individually, Jackrabbit players have been honored as all-Summit League performers 10 times during his brief tenure, including six all-league selections in 2018. Utility player Nick Smith and third baseman Newt Johnson received all-Summit League recognition in both 2017 and 2018.

Prior to becoming head coach at SDSU, Bishop spent six years at NCAA Division II member Montana State University-Billings, where he led the Yellowjackets to back-to-back Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season titles in 2015 and 2016, attaining the program's first-ever 30-win season with a 30-20 record in 2016. His squads also were honored as the top academic team in the GNAC each of his last three seasons.

Previously, Bishop spent 10 years at Miles City Community College in Montana, where his teams won MonDak conference championships every year. His squads also claimed five consecutive junior college region titles and a Northwest District championship in 2007 to advance to the NJCAA Division II College World Series. Bishop's teams won at least 30 games each of his 10 seasons, including four 40-win seasons. He ended his tenure at Miles City with a 377-151 overall record. He also served as athletic director his last five years at Miles City.

Bishop served as a graduate assistant at SDSU under head coach Mark Ekeland during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In his first season as a head coach, Bishop led Huron University to the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference title in 2000 with a 38-18 record.

A 1994 graduate of Jamestown College, Bishop earned NAIA All-America honors during the 1992 and 1994 seasons as an infielder.

THE ROSTER: The 2019 SDSU baseball roster features 33 players from seven different states and one Canadian province. Of the 33 players, 11 are from Iowa, nine are from South Dakota and eight hail from Minnesota. Arizona, Nebraska, Washington and Wisconsin are represented by one player each, as is Manitoba.

By class, 10 are seniors, nine are juniors, five are sophomores, two are redshirt freshmen and seven are incoming freshmen.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits have added a game against Alabama to their Spring Break schedule, meeting the Crimson Tide for the first time ever on March 6.

Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The matchup with Alabama will be the second against a Southeastern Conference opponent in a week for the Jackrabbits and replaces a game originally scheduled for March 5 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. That contest has been canceled due to construction delays at UAPB's ballpark.

SDSU will wrap up the trip with four games at UA Little Rock March 8-10.

Wednesday, March 6
• SDSU at Alabama, 6 p.m.
Friday, March 8
• SDSU at UA Little Rock, 3 p.m.
Saturday, March 9
• SDSU at UA Little Rock [DH], 1/4 p.m.
Sunday, March 10
• SDSU at UA Little Rock, 1 p.m.

-GoJacks.com-

Calendar

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Players Mentioned

Drew Beazley

Jamie Berg

Braeden Brown

Ryan Froom

Logan Holtz

Luke Ira

Newt Johnson

Tony Kjolsing

Nic McCay

Ryan McDonald

Tyler Olmstead

Anthony Schneider

Nick Smith

Brady Stover

Completed Event: Baseball at Omaha on May 22, 2025 , Loss , 6, to, 7 , 10 inn.

Completed Event: Baseball versus Oral Roberts on May 21, 2025 , Loss , 2, to, 11

Completed Event: Baseball versus Oral Roberts on May 17, 2025 , Loss , 2, to, 9

Completed Event: Baseball versus Oral Roberts on May 16, 2025 , Loss , 11, to, 13

Completed Event: Baseball versus Oral Roberts on May 15, 2025 , Loss , 11, to, 14

Completed Event: Baseball versus Oral Roberts on May 15, 2025 , Loss , 4, to, 11

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