SDSU EVENS SERIES WITH KANSAS

Saturday, February 20

Minneapolis, Minn. [U.S. Bank Stadium]

5:25 p.m.

South Dakota State University

1-1

Kansas

1-1

South Dakota State

Kansas

Photo by: SDSU Sports Information

2/20/2021 9:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS – Cody Carlson pitched into the sixth inning and Luke Ira homered and drove in a career-high four runs to lead South Dakota State to an 8-5 victory over Kansas in college baseball action Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

With their first victory of 2021, the Jackrabbits evened the season-opening series at a game apiece.

All of SDSU's runs came in only two innings. Trailing 1-0, the Jackrabbits hung a 5-spot on the board in the top of the fifth inning, sending eight men to the plate. Freshman Jordan Sagedahl was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame and advanced to second on a bunt single by Jamie Berg. After Landon Badger reached on an error to load the bases, Ira gave the Jackrabbits the lead with a two-run single to center field. Drew Beazley made it 3-1 with a run-scoring double, while the last two runs of the inning scored on sacrifice flies by Ryan McDonald and Derek Hackman.

Kansas drew back within a run with a three-run bottom of the sixth. A double by Brett Vosik plated the first run and knocked Carlson out of the game, but not before the senior left-hander from Rapid City racked up six strikeouts en route to his first victory as a Jackrabbit.

The Jayhawks' Nolan Metcalf then greeted SDSU reliever Jack Sullivan with a two-run homer to left-center to make it a 5-4 game.

SDSU pushed the lead back to four runs with a three-run top of the eighth. Colton Cox was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and scored on a Jayhawk error before Ira provided the final cushion with a two-run homer to center field.

Kansas trimmed the lead to 8-5 with an unearned run of its own in the bottom of the eighth, but Bret Barnett came on to record the final four outs for the save. SDSU turned its third double play of the game for the first two outs of the final inning.

Four Jackrabbit pitchers combined to tally 10 strikeouts in the game. Besides Carlson's six K's, Eli Sundquist notched three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings and Barnett's lone strikeout ended the game.

The Jackrabbits finished with an 8-5 advantage in hits. Beazley was 3-for-5, with Ira going 2-for-5.

UP NEXT
The series finale is scheduled for an 8:25 a.m. first pitch on Sunday.

NOTES

Kansas leads the all-time series, 7-2
Carlson made his first start as a Jackrabbit and his 5 1/3 innings marked his longest outing at SDSU over parts of three seasons
Sagedahl reached base four times (single, walk, two hit by pitches) in his collegiate debut
Barnett's save was the 10th of his career
The Jackrabbits' three double plays were the program's most since turning four in a game at Omaha on March 17, 2017

-GoJacks.com-