Jackrabbits head back to Texas

Games 8-11: South Dakota State (1-6) at UT Rio Grande Valley (3-5)

When	Friday, Feb. 28 (7 p.m.) \| Saturday, Feb. 29 [DH] (3/6 p.m.) \| Sunday, March 1 (noon)
Where	UTRGV Stadium \| Edinburg, Texas
TV	WACDigitalNetwork.com
Radio	None
Live Stats	G oUTRGV.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| U TRGV \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #RAB5

BROOKINGS, S.D. — For the second time in three weeks, the South Dakota State baseball team will be in the Lone Star State for a weekend series.

This time, the Jackrabbits will head deeper into the heart of Texas in search of better results as they meet UT Rio Grande Valley in a four-game set. Friday's series opener is slated for 7 p.m. at UTRGV Stadium in Edinburg, Texas. A doubleheader is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start on Saturday, with the series finale set for a noon first pitch on Sunday.

Video coverage of all four games will be available online through wacdigitalnetwork.com.

SDSU, 1-6 overall, began the season by being swept in a three-game series Feb. 14-16 at nationally ranked Dallas Baptist. After picking up their first win of the season Feb. 21 at Pacific (Calif.), the Jackrabbits have dropped three games in a row by a total of four runs.

The Jackrabbits are in the midst of playing their first 23 scheduled games on the road.

UTRGV enters the weekend with a 3-6 overall record. The Vaqueros were swept last weekend at No. 24 Oklahoma State before splitting a pair of midweek road games at Houston (W, 6-5 in 12 innings) and Baylor (L, 0-2).

THE SERIES: Friday's game will mark the 34th time SDSU and UTRGV have met on the baseball diamond, but the first matchup between the two programs in a dozen years.

Formerly known as Texas-Pan American, UTRGV has dominated the all-time series by a 32-1 margin, dating back to 1977. Most of the games played in the late 1970s and 1980s were part of the Jody Ramsey Invitational.

SDSU's lone win in the series came in the squads' last meeting, March 7, 2008, in Huntsville, Texas. The Jackrabbits held on for an 11-10 victory and were paced in the victory by three-RBI performances from Billy Stitz and Tyson Fisher. SDSU stole five bases in the game, including two by Tim Hanigan.

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State has been picked to finish third in the upcoming Summit League baseball race, according to a poll conducted among conference coaches that was announced Feb. 6 by league officials.

The Jackrabbits received two of the six first-place votes, finishing with 18 points. Oral Roberts received three first-place votes and topped the poll with 23 points, followed by defending league champion Omaha with one first-place vote and 19 points.

Rounding out the poll were: North Dakota State, 16 points; Western Illinois, 9 points, and Purdue Fort Wayne, 5 points.

Among the Jackrabbit returners, juniors Gus Steiger and Bret Barnett were recognized among the Summit League's top players to watch.

A two-time all-Summit League honoree, Steiger paced the Jackrabbits offensively in 2019 with team highs in batting average (.324), hits (73) runs scored (45), runs batted in (43), doubles (13) and stolen bases (18). He also ranked second on the squad with five home runs in starting all 50 games.

Steiger, a native of Minnetonka, Minnesota, was a first-team all-Summit selection at shortstop in 2019, after earning second-team recognition as a second baseman his freshman year.

Barnett emerged as the top relief pitcher in the Summit League during the 2019 season, earning first-team honors after posting a 5-1 record with seven saves. The left-hander from Indianola, Iowa, registered a 1.31 earned run average, struck out 47 batters in 34 1/3 innings and limited opposing hitters to a .138 batting average.

Summit League play is slated to begin March 13, when SDSU opens a three-game set at Oral Roberts. League teams will play a pair of three-game series (home and home) for a total of 30 regular season contests.

The top four teams during the regular season will advance to the 2020 Summit League Baseball Championship, which is scheduled for May 20-23 in Omaha, Nebraska.

LAST TIME OUT: Minnesota scored three times in the bottom of the second inning and held off South Dakota State for a 4-2 victory in nonconference baseball action Wednesday night at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Full Recap

SHORT HOPS: Following are some notes regarding the South Dakota State baseball team heading into this weekend's series at UTRGV:

SDSU has played error-free baseball in four of seven games this season;
The Jackrabbits are 0-2 in extra-inning games this season and 1-3 in one-run games;
Freshman left-hander Rick Atkins has picked off a baserunner in each of his two starts this season;
Luke Ira had his streak of reaching base safely, which dated back to the 2019 season, end at nine consecutive games in the series finale versus Pacific;
Ira doubled twice in the second game of the Pacific series, joining Gus Steiger (Feb. 15 at Dallas Baptist) as Jackrabbits to accomplish the feat so far this season;
In Game 2 of the Pacific series, SDSU scored in double figures for the first time since a 12-2 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne on May 5, 2019;
After issuing 21 walks and striking out only 14 batters in the series at Pacific, SDSU pitchers struck out 12 batters in the Feb. 26 game at Minnesota;
Five different players have hit home runs for the Jackrabbits this season, with Wyatt Andersen, Landon Badger and Derek Hackman each hitting their first home runs of the year in the three-game series at Pacific;
Of SDSU's five home runs so far this season, only one has been a solo homer — three have been two-run shots and one a three-run blast;
The Jackrabbits have outscored the opposition by a combined 13-3 in the sixth (8-3) and seventh (5-0) innings of games so far this season.

BARNETT EARNS PRESEASON HONORS: South Dakota State University relief pitcher Bret Barnett was named in December to the Preseason All-America Second Team by Collegiate Baseball.

A native of Indianola, Iowa, Barnett entered his junior season after turning in one of the best seasons ever by a Jackrabbit hurler during the 2019 campaign. The left-hander posted a 5-1 record with a team-high seven saves in 20 appearances. His 1.31 earned run average was the third-lowest single-season mark by a Jackrabbit with more than 30 innings pitched.

Barnett also struck out 47 batters in 34.1 innings and held the opposition to a .138 batting average en route to first-team all-Summit League honors. He did not allow a run over his last seven appearances and brought a scoreless streak of 13.1 innings into the 2020 season.

Barnett was the lone Summit League player honored on the preseason All-America squad.

In addition, Barnett was recently named to the 2020 Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List selected by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

MOGEN SETS UP AGAIN: Senior relief pitcher Brett Mogen picked up where he left off from the 2019 season with four shutout innings in his first appearance of the 2020 campaign Feb. 15 versus Dallas Baptist.

The right-hander from Dell Rapids struck out three and walked three, while limiting DBU to two hits.

Dating back to last season, Mogen ran his scoreless innings streak to 16 — over seven appearances — before allowing a run in the series finale at Pacific. He opened the series with three shutout innings in helping lead the Jackrabbits to a 2-1 win in the Feb. 21 series opener.

Mogen finished 2019 with a 1.67 earned run average in sharing the team lead with 20 appearances. His 2019 ERA?ranks as the sixth-best in a season by a Jackrabbit who pitched more than 30 innings.

IRONMAN BEHIND THE PLATE: Jackrabbit catcher Derek Hackman has been behind the plate for 55 of the 63 innings SDSU has been in the field so far this season.

The junior from Johnston, Iowa, ranks second on the team with 35 putouts and stands fourth on the team with five hits.

BACK-TO-BACK JACKS: When Matt Krambeck and Drew Beazley hit back-to-back home runs in the Feb. 15 game at Dallas Baptist, it marked the first time the Jackrabbits connected on consecutive circuit clouts in nearly a full calendar year.

The last time SDSU accomplished the feat was Feb. 16, 2019, versus UT Martin, when Logan Holtz and Ryan McDonald went back-to-back in the fifth inning. That also was the second game of the season.

COACH BISHOP: Rob Bishop, who has guided college baseball teams to more than 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 fourth season with the Jackrabbits, Bishop holds a 73-84 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.

SDSU bounced back in 2019, posting a 28-22 overall record that included a second-place mark of 19-10 in Summit League play. The Jackrabbits won or split nine of the 10 league series in regular season play en route to making an appearance in the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship for the 10th time in 11 years.

Overall, Bishop has compiled a 622-406-1 record (.605 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach. He earned his 600th career victory in the Jackrabbits' 8-6 victory at UA Little Rock on March 10, 2019.

Individually, Jackrabbit players have been honored as all-Summit League performers 18 times during his brief tenure, including eight all-league selections in 2019. Utility player Nick Smith was honored for the third consecutive season, while shortstop Gus Steiger and starting pitcher Tyler Olmstead were repeat selections in 2019.

In addition, catcher Luke Ringhofer was selected in the 22nd round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles and relief pitcher Chris Halbur was offered a free agent contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers after Bishop's first season in Brookings. In 2019, left-handed pitcher Brady Stover was a 31st-round pick of the Washington Nationals, but opted to return to the Jackrabbits for his senior season.

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 the past 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 the last five years of his tenure 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 31 players from four different states. Of the 31 players, 14 are from Iowa, eight are from South Dakota, seven hail from Minnesota and two are Nebraska natives.

By class, seven are seniors, three are juniors, eight are sophomores and 13 are incoming freshmen.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits will make a return to Minneapolis March 4 for another midweek game against Minnesota. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at U.S. Bank Stadium.

From there, SDSU will move on to Air Force for a three-game series March 6-8.

-GoJacks.com-

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Players Mentioned

Wyatt Andersen

Rick Atkins

Landon Badger

Bret Barnett

Drew Beazley

Derek Hackman

Logan Holtz

Luke Ira

Matt Krambeck

Ryan McDonald

Brett Mogen

Tyler Olmstead

Luke Ringhofer

Nick Smith

Gus Steiger

Brady Stover

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