SDSU sweeps Saturday slate

Saturday, March 2

Conway, Ark.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

4-5

Missouri

6-5

South Dakota State

Missouri

Photo by: Bill Powell

3/2/2019 8:50:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CONWAY, Ark. – South Dakota State relief pitchers combined to throw 6 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball and the Jackrabbits came up with a number of clutch hits at the plate to win a pair of games Saturday at Bear Stadium.

The Jackrabbits, 5-5 overall, defeated Missouri by a 6-3 score in the first game of the day, then rallied for a 7-5 victory over host Central Arkansas in the nightcap.

SDSU 6, Missouri 3
Cody Carlson hurled 3 1/3 shutout innings out of the bullpen as SDSU held off Missouri.

The Jackrabbits never trailed in the contest, putting together a two-run top of the first inning against Missouri starter Tyler LaPlante. Freshman Luke Ira led off the game with a single up the middle, moved to second on a walk to Nick Smith and moved to third on an infield single by Braeden Brown that loaded the bases. Logan Holtz drove in the first two runs with a single to left field that plated both Ira and Smith.

Missouri countered with a run of its own in the home of the first on a base hit by Chris Cornelius.

SDSU extended its lead to 4-1 with runs in the fifth and sixth innings against the Tiger bullpen. Smith drove in Ira with a two-out single for the fifth-inning run, while Derek Hackman delivered another two-out run-scoring single that brought home Holtz in the sixth.

Jackrabbit starter Ryan Froom settled in after the first inning, keeping Mizzou off the board until tiring in the sixth. The senior right-hander left with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth after the Tigers trimmed the SDSU lead to 4-3 on RBI singles by Chad McDaniel and Tony Ortiz.

Carlson came on to record the final out in the sixth on a groundout and pitched the remainder of the game to earn his first save for SDSU. The left-hander from Rapid City struck out three, walked one and surrendered three hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Froom fanned six and worked around five walks and four hits in earning his first victory in nearly two full years since working his way back from an arm injury he suffered in March 2017.

After leaving the bases loaded in the eighth without scoring, the Jackrabbits tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the ninth on a Landon Badger single through the right side that scored both Gus Steiger and Nick Smith.

SDSU held a 12-7 advantage in hits and were led by Logan Holtz's 3-for-5 effort at the plate. Ira, Steiger and Smith each added two hits out of the top three spots in the Jackrabbit lineup.

Ortiz and Kameron Misner each tallied two hits for Missouri.

Game 2: SDSU 7, Central Arkansas 5
The Jackrabbits rallied from a 5-2 deficit to even their weekend series against UCA at a game apiece.

SDSU tied the game at 5-all with three runs in the top of the sixth, then put together the game-winning rally with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth.

Steiger started the sixth-inning rally with a leadoff single and later scored on an error. Holtz plated a run with an RBI groundout, while freshman catcher Ryan McDonald drove in Braeden Brown with the tying run on a two-out single to left. In the ninth, Josh Kutzke led off with a base hit. Pinch runner Jamie Berg advanced to second on sacrifice bunt by Drew Beazley, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Steiger's infield single. A UCA error extended the inning, allowing Holtz to draw a bases-loaded walk to force in Steiger for an insurance run.

Bret Barnett retired all six batters he face in the seventh and eighth innings to earn the victory. After starting the game at first base, Beazley came in to pitch a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season.

The Jackrabbits led 2-0 through after scoring single runs in both the third and fourth innings. Beazley tripled with one out in the third and scored on a groundout by Ira, while Badger plated Holtz with the fourth-inning run on a double down the left-field line.

All five of the Bears' runs came in the home half of the fourth as they sent 10 men to the plate. All of UCA's runs scored with two outs as six consecutive batters reached base safely, highlighted by a two-run single by Beau Orlando and RBI singles by Kolby Johnson and Tyler Smith.

SDSU starter Tyler Olmstead regained his composure to complete his six-inning outing with eight strikeouts.

Steiger was 3-for-5 as the Jackrabbits finished with a 9-7 advantage in hits.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits are scheduled to wrap up weekend action by meeting Central Arkansas for a third and final time at 1 p.m. Sunday.

NOTES

SDSU improved to 1-3 all-time against Missouri
The Jackrabbits posted a win over a Southeastern Conference opponent for the first time since winning 3-2 at nationally ranked Arkansas on March 9, 2010
Neither team had an extra-base hit in the SDSU-Missouri game
UCA leads the all-time series against SDSU by a 2-7 count
The Jackrabbits are 4-0 this season when leading after seven innings
Barnett has yet to allow a run in six innings over three appearances in 2019
Holtz has hit safely in five consecutive games and has reached base in all nine games in which he has played this season
Hackman extended his streak of reaching base safely to 15 games dating back to last season in the opener
Ira recorded his team-best fifth multi-hit game in the opener