JACKRABBITS RESUME PLAY WITH NDSU

Friday, April 23

Brookings, S.D.

noon

South Dakota State University

North Dakota State

Photo by: Dennis Hubbard

4/22/2021 9:44:00 AM | Baseball

Games 29-32: North Dakota State (23-10, 12-7 Summit) at South Dakota State (9-19, 4-8 Summit)

When	Friday-Sunday, April 23-25 Doubleheader Friday \| noon and 3 p.m. (9 inn./7 inn.) Single Games Saturday and Sunday \| 1 p.m. (9 inn.)
Where	Erv Huether Field \| Brookings, South Dakota
TV	Games 1 and 2 \| Game 3 \| Game 4
Radio	KJJQ 910 AM and GoJacks.com/watch (Friday and Sunday)
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| North Dakota State \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #RAB5

After an unexpected week off, the South Dakota State University baseball team returns to action this weekend, hosting North Dakota State in a key four-game Summit League series at Erv Huether Field.

The series, which kicks off the second half of the league schedule for the Jackrabbits, opens Friday with a noon doubleheader. Single games are slated for 1 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. All four games will be available for viewing online through links at GoJacks.com, with radio coverage available locally Friday and Sunday on KJJQ 910 AM.

The Jackrabbits enter the week 9-19 overall and with a league mark of 4-8 after opening the home schedule April 10-11 by splitting a four-game home series versus Omaha. SDSU had its scheduled four-game set last weekend against Western Illinois canceled after the Leathernecks paused their baseball program due to COVID-19 protocols.

NDSU, meanwhile, is percentage points behind league-leading Oral Roberts with a 12-7 Summit League record. The Bison enter the week as the lone team with a winning overall record in The Summit at 23-10.

Last weekend, NDSU dropped two of three home games to Oral Roberts. The series finale was canceled due to inclement weather.

THE SERIES: Friday's series opener will mark the 193rd meeting on the baseball diamond between SDSU and North Dakota State. In the series that dates back to 1956, the Jackrabbits hold a 121-71 lead.

Since the two programs joined The Summit League at the start of the 2008 season, the Jackrabbits hold a 31-28 edge in league regular season games. SDSU won four of the six games the squads played during the 2019 season.

SDSU has not hosted North Dakota State at Erv Huether Field since the 2017 season; a weather-shortened series in 2018 was moved to Sioux Falls with the Jackrabbits sweeping a doubleheader, and a three-game series in 2019 was moved to Omaha with SDSU winning two of three games. The two squads did not play in 2020 as the season was canceled just prior to the start of Summit League play.

In the 2017 series hosted by SDSU, North Dakota State won two of three matchups. The Bison won the April 28 opener, 3-0, behind a one-hit, 11-strikeout performance by Luke Lind. NDSU secured the series victory with an 11-4 victory the next day before the Jackrabbits salvaged the final game of the three-game set with a 2-1 win. Ethan Kenkel, Derek Feige and Chris Halbur combined to limit the Bison to four hits, while SDSU manufactured runs in the second and sixth innings to pull out the win.

SHORT HOPS: Following are a few quick notes about the Jackrabbits heading into this weekend's series:

SDSU played its first home game since May 11, 2019, when it hosted Omaha in doubleheader action on April 10;
The Jackrabbits swept an April 11 doubleheader from Omaha, marking the second time this season SDSU won both games of a twinbill (Feb. 27 at Northern Colorado);
Drew Beazley and Ryan Bourassa combined for a three-hit shutout in the first game of the April 11 doubleheader, marking the Jackrabbits's second shutout of the season (Feb. 26 at Northern Colorado);
SDSU rallied for six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win Game 2 of the April 11 doubleheader, matching the Jackrabbits' biggest inning of the season (six runs in sixth inning of Feb. 28 game at Northern Colorado);
Derek Hackman capped the rally with a three-run, game-winning home run — the first walk-off homer by a Jackrabbit since Tony Kjolsing led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a homer that gave SDSU a 5-4 victory over Omaha on May 4, 2018;
Cody Carlson has pitched at least five innings in six of his seven starts this season;
True freshman position players Jess Bellows (25), Garrett Stout (19), Jordan Sagedahl (16), and Avery Mellman (10) have combined for 70 starts so far this season.

SUMMIT LEAGUE SUCCESS: South Dakota State has been a consistent winner in The Summit League since it became a league member more than a decade ago. In 13 seasons as a member of The Summit League, the Jackrabbits have compiled a 184-145 (.559 winning percentage) in regular season conference games. SDSU has posted a .500 or better record in league play nine times and has qualified for the four-team postseason tournament 10 out of the 11 years it has been eligible.

The Jackrabbits shared a Summit League regular season title in 2010 and won the Summit postseason tournament in 2013.

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State was picked to finish fourth in the 2021 Summit League baseball race, according to a preseason poll conducted among the league's five coaches.

Defending champion Omaha grabbed the top spot in the poll with three first-place votes and 15 points, edging Oral Roberts with two first-place votes and 14 points. North Dakota State was third with 10 points, followed by the Jackrabbits with seven. Western Illinois rounded out the poll with four points.

The top four teams will advance to the Summit League Baseball Championship May 26-29 in Omaha, Nebraska. SDSU has qualified for the league tournament in 10 of 11 seasons it has been eligible for postseason play.

The Jackrabbits finished the COVID-shortened 2020 season with a 5-12 overall record. The season was canceled just before the start of Summit League play.

In addition, Drew Beazley was named as a Summit League Player to Watch and right-hander Adam Mazur was tabbed as a Summit League Pitcher to Watch.

A sophomore from Johnston, Iowa, Beazley hit .239, drove in nine runs and shared the team lead with two home runs during an abbreviated 2020 season. He earned Freshman All-America recognition from Collegiate Baseball in 2019 and was a second-team all-Summit League selection after batting .275 with four home runs and 21 runs batted in.

Besides playing first base, Beazley is expected to see an expanded role on the Jackrabbit pitching staff in 2021.

Mazur rose to the top of the SDSU starting rotation as a true freshman in 2020. The Woodbury, Minnesota, native made four starts, compiling a 1-2 record. He struck out 18 batters in 20 1/3 innings.

IRA NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State shortstop Luke Ira was selected April 12 as Summit League Baseball Player of the Week.

A sophomore from Iowa City, Iowa, Ira batted .538 (7-for-13) with three doubles and three runs batted in as the Jackrabbits rallied for a split of a four-game weekend series against Omaha. After going hitless in the first game of the series, Ira posted three consecutive multi-hit games with an RBI, starting with a 3-for-3 effort in the second game of an April 10 doubleheader.

Both of his hits in the April 11 series finale were doubles as he compiled a .769 slugging percentage on the weekend.

Ira is the first Jackrabbit to be honored as Summit League Player of the Week this season.

BELLOWS BREAKS IN: Freshman Jess Bellows started the final three games of the Northern Colorado series for the Jackrabbits and has since put his stamp on the SDSU lineup.

A native of Miles City, Montana, Bellows led SDSU with a .556 batting average (5-for-9) with six runs batted in and six runs scored in the series played Feb. 26-28. He doubled twice and hit his first career home run en route to a 1.111 slugging percentage. Both of his doubles came in extra innings with the international tiebreaker in effect and resulted in three of his RBIs.

Bellows, who has seen action primarily at the corner outfield spots, as well as at second base recently, has hit safely in 21 of the 25 games in which he has played, putting together two separate hitting streaks of five games and another six-game streak. He recorded his first career three-hit game in the April 11 series finale against Omaha.

Overall, he leads the team with a .308 batting average and ranks second on the squad with 28 hits. He also ranks third on the team with 17 runs scored and stands fourth with seven doubles.

HACKMAN HEATS UP: While the rest of the Jackrabbit offense was scuffling in the Summit League-opening series against Omaha, catcher/designated hitter Derek Hackman heated up. The Johnston, Iowa, native batted .417 (5-for-12) with two home runs, a double, four runs batted in and three runs scored in the four-game series.

Both of Hackman's home runs were two-run blasts in the Jackrabbits' 7-6 victory on March 20 as he established a new career high with four RBIs. He became the first SDSU player to hit two home runs in a game since Anthony Schneider connected twice against Western Illinois on May 13, 2018.

The junior continued his hot hitting against Omaha by hitting the game-winning three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of the April 11 series finale at Erv Huether Field. The home run, his fourth of the season, capped a six-run frame for the Jackrabbits.

Hackman had his streak of reaching base safely end at 20 games in the first game of the April 3 doubleheader at Evansville. He currently leads the team in several offensive categories, including home runs (4), runs batted in (18), on-base percentage (.430) and slugging percentage (.476).

His third home run of the season came in the Jackrabbits' series-opening win at Western Illinois on March 26.

BARNETT MOVES UP SAVES CHART: Junior relief pitcher Bret Barnett recorded the 11th save of his career in the Jackrabbits' win over Kansas on Feb. 20. Barnett notched the final six outs, including three by strikeout, to close out SDSU's first Summit League win of the season.

With his latest save, March 20 at Omaha, Barnett broke a tie with Chad Coley (10 saves from 1990-93) for sixth place in program history and moved into a tie with Bruce Mogen (11 saves from 1983-86) for fifth place in program history. The Indianola, Iowa, native earned seven saves en route to first-team all-Summit League honors in 2019, and tallied two saves during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

In eight appearances this season, Barnett has struck out 23 batters over nine innings, upping his career totals to 88 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings. His career mark of 11.53 strikeouts per nine innings pitched would set a new Jackrabbit standard.

MOGEN JOINS TOP 10: Senior right-hander Brett Mogen moved into the SDSU career top 10 for appearances when he pitched the final inning of the Jackrabbits' 12-0 series-opening victory at Northern Colorado on Feb. 26.

After missing a month due to injury, Mogen made his 66th career appearance in the April 11 series finale against Omaha, putting him in a tie for fifth place on the SDSU charts with Shane Kraemer (2010-13) and Andrew Clemen (2013-16).

Mogen put together his best season in a Jackrabbit uniform in 2019 with a 1-1 record and 1.67 ERA?in 20 appearances. His ERA?ranked as the sixth lowest in a season by an SDSU pitcher with more than 30 innings pitched.

OLMSTEAD RETURNS: Senior pitcher Tyler Olmstead made his first appearance since the 2019 season when he recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning in the second game of the March 19 doubleheader at Omaha.

Olmstead, a Sioux Falls native, has made two other relief appearances this season, including picking up the win in the April 11 series finale versus Omaha. It was his first victory since pitching a complete-game, four-hit shutout with nine strikeouts against Purdue Fort Wayne on May 3, 2019.

A two-time second-team all-Summit League selection, Olmstead had been sidelined by injuries since the end of the 2019 season. The Sioux Falls native has compiled a 9-7 career record with 27 starts and is tied with Jon Maras (1989-92) for seventh on the Jackrabbits' all-time charts with 175 strikeouts. His 92 strikeouts in 2019 stands fourth on SDSU's single-season list.

MAZUR HONORED: South Dakota State right-hander Adam Mazur was honored as Summit League Pitcher of the Week March 1 after helping lead the Jackrabbits to a four-game weekend sweep at Northern Colorado.

A returning freshman from Woodbury, Minnesota, Mazur struck out a career-high 12 UNC batters in six shutout innings as SDSU won the Feb. 26 series opener, 12-0. Mazur struck out the side in each of the second, third and fourth innings, fanning eight Bear hitters in a row in one stretch. He allowed three hits and walked two.

Mazur's 12 strikeouts are the most by an SDSU pitcher since Brady Stover set a Jackrabbit Division I-era standard with 13 K's in a 2018 game against Purdue Fort Wayne. In 40 1/3 innings over seven starts so far this season, Mazur has notched a total of 56 strikeouts after fanning 11 batters in seven innings April 10 versus Omaha.

In a March 19 start at Omaha, Mazur retired 14 Omaha hitters in a row in one stretch. He followed that by putting together a streak of retiring 12 consecutive Western Illinois batters en route to his second victory of the season on March 26.
Mazur is expected to be back on the mound for Friday's series opener against NDSU.

TIEBREAKER TIMES TWO: South Dakota State excelled in late-inning situations, winning both games of a Feb. 27 doubleheader at Northern Colorado after the international tie-breaker was implemented.

With each extra inning starting with a man at second base, the Jackrabbits erupted for four runs in the top of the 10th of the opener, then posted a three-spot on the board in the ninth inning (scheduled seven-inning game) of Game 2 once play resumed Sunday after being suspended because of darkness the previous day.

In Game 1, Jess Bellows delivered a leadoff double to score Jordan Sagedahl with the go-ahead run. Luke Ira followed two batters later with a bunt single to plate Bellows and Derek Hackman capped the scoring in a 6-2 Jackrabbit victory with a two-run double to the right-center gap.

Game 2 followed much of the same script as Ira broke a 3-all tie in the top of the ninth with a leadoff double to drive in Landon Badger. Bellows closed out the scoring in a 6-3 Jackrabbit victory with a two-run double to the left-center gap that brought home Ira and Ryan McDonald.

The Jackrabbits turned an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to escape the eighth inning of Game 2 and did not allow a run in any of the three innings played under the tiebreaker rules over the two games.

The international tiebreaker is being used in select nonconference games involving the Jackrabbits this season, but will not be used in Summit League play.

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.

Through four-plus seasons with the Jackrabbits, Bishop holds an 86-105 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.

The 2020 season was canceled just before the start of Summit League play, with SDSU posting a 5-12 record in the first month of the season. The Jackrabbits recorded wins at Minnesota, Air Force and Kansas State the final week of the pandemic-shortened campaign.

Overall, Bishop holds a 635-427-1 record (.598 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.

Bishop has mentored a handful of Jackrabbit players who have pursued professional careers. 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 addition, shortstop Gus Steiger signed with the Cincinnati Reds following an abbreviated 2020 MLB Draft. 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, where he also served as athletic director for five years, with a 377-151 overall record.

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 2021 SDSU baseball roster features 36 players from seven different states. Of the 36 players, 13 are from Iowa, 10 are from South Dakota and seven hail from Minnesota. Two players are from Nebraska and North Dakota, while Montana and Washington are represented by one player each.

By class, four are seniors, two are juniors, nine are sophomores and 21 are freshmen (11 returning, 10 incoming).

A LOOK AHEAD: SDSU returns to road action with a four-game series April 30-May 2 at Oral Roberts. Games will be played at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

-GoJacks.com-