Young arms lead Jacks past WIU

Sunday, March 17

Springfield, Ill.

noon

South Dakota State University

9-9, 0

Western Illinois

5-12, 0

South Dakota State

Western Illinois

Photo by: Bill Powell

3/17/2019 3:23:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – South Dakota State pitchers Nic McCay and Bret Barnett combined for 14 strikeouts and the Jackrabbit offense capitalized on three Western Illinois errors to win the decisive game of a three-game Summit League baseball series, 7-4, Sunday afternoon at UIS Baseball Field.

The Jackrabbits improved to 9-9 overall and 2-1 in league play. WIU dropped to 5-12 overall and 1-2 in The Summit League.

SDSU tallied the first run of the game in the third inning as Derek Hackman walked, advanced to second on a balk and scored on an infield error.

The Jackrabbits took advantage of two Western Illinois errors in the fifth inning, scoring five times to go up 6-0. Nick Smith and Logan Holtz each plated one run with RBI singles, while Steiger plated another with a groundout. The other two runs scored on a wild pitch and when Smith stole home on the back end of a double steal.

Smith and SDSU were aggressive on the bases all day as the Jackrabbits racked up six stolen bases, including three by Smith.

McCay, a freshman right-hander from Carlisle, Iowa, kept the Leathernecks off the board until the bottom of the fifth, when Drue Galassi connected on a three-run home run down the right-field line. Galassi accounted for the other WIU run with a solo homer in the seventh. However, McCay did post his 10^th and final strikeout of the game in the seventh as he fanned at least one batter in all seven frames, including striking out the side in order in the fourth. He walked two, hit a batter and surrendered five hits en route to his team-leading third win of the season.

Barnett, a sophomore from Indianola, Iowa, continued his strong start to the season by striking out all three men he faced in the bottom of the eighth, then struck out Galassi with a man on in the ninth to record his second save of the series and third of the season.

Gus Steiger added an insurance run for the Jackrabbits in the top of the ninth with a solo home run to left-center to lead off the inning. It was his team-leading third home run of the season.

SDSU managed only five hits and was led by Braeden Brown's two hits in four trips. The Jackrabbits tied a season high by drawing nine walks.

Galassi was the lone Leatherneck player with more than one hit as he went 2-for-4 with four RBIs as WIU notched six hits.

UP NEXT
SDSU's game scheduled for Wednesday at Creighton has been postponed due to concerns over weather and field conditions. No makeup date has been determined. The Jackrabbits now are slated to return to action Friday (March 22) at Oral Roberts, with first pitch set for 6 p.m.

NOTES

SDSU leads the all-time series, 34-24, dating back to 2006
Steiger hit a home run for the second consecutive game, upping his hitting streak to 10 games and reaching base safely for the 13^th game in a row
Smith extended his hitting streak to nine games
McCay's 10 strikeouts are the most by a Jackrabbit pitcher this season
SDSU 14 strikeouts as a pitching staff tied a season high first set in the Feb. 15 season opener against UT Martin
Barnett has allowed one run (0.77 ERA) and five hits in 11 2/3 innings so far this season
The Jackrabbits' six stolen bases were their most since stealing seven bases at Fort Wayne on April 29, 2018