JACKS FALL TWICE TO ORAL ROBERTS

Thursday, May 20

Brookings, S.D.

noon

South Dakota State University

12-29, 7-18

Oral Roberts

27-19, 18-5

Oral Roberts

South Dakota State

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

5/20/2021 6:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

South Dakota State opened its final series of the regular season with two losses against Oral Roberts by scores of 11-8 and 4-3 Thursday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.

The Jacks fell to 12-30 overall and 7-19 in Summit League play while the Golden Eagles improved to 28-19 and 19-5 in conference play.

GAME 1: ORU 11, SDSU 8

The Jacks jumped on Oral Roberts early with a five-run first inning, including a grand slam by Landon Badger, however, SDSU was not able to hang on, falling 11-8 in game one.

The Golden Eagles didn't take much time to score the first run of the game as a two-out single put ORU up 1-0 in the first.

In the bottom half of the inning, the first three SDSU batters reached, two hit by pitches and one walked, setting up for a Derek Hackman sacrifice fly to even the score. Another walk reloaded the bases and Badger followed with a grand slam to put SDSU up 5-1.

A two-out, two-run double by Oral Roberts, followed by a run scored on an SDSU throwing error, brought the Golden Eagles within 5-4 in the third.

The Jacks added a run in the bottom of the third on Derek Hackman's team-leading eighth home run of the season to make it 6-4.

Oral Roberts responded with a solo home run in the top of the fourth to cut the SDSU lead to 6-5.

Each team was held scoreless until four consecutive singles in the sixth by the Golden Eagles scored three runs as ORU regained the lead, 8-6.

Another Oral Roberts run scored in the top of the seventh on another two-out hit by the Golden Eagles, this time an RBI double to make it 9-6.

SDSU rallied to score two in the bottom of the eighth on two singles, a Luke Ira RBI triple and a walk to bring the Jacks back within one run (9-8).

Back came Oral Roberts in the top of the ninth on a solo home run and a two-out RBI single, which padded the Golden Eagle lead to 11-8. The Jacks put runners on first and second with two outs, but a strikeout ended the game.

Adam Mazur went five innings, gave up seven hits five runs, walked three batters and struck out six. Bret Barnett and Riley McSherry combined to pitch four innings for eight hits, six earned runs, two walks and two strikeouts in relief.

Derek Hackman led the Jacks by going 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs. Luke Ira finished the game 2-for-4 with a double, triple, RBI, walk and two runs.

Badger drove in four runs on the grand slam as Drew Beazley, Jordan Sagedahl each recorded a hit.

Oral Roberts used four pitchers as Evan Kowalski earned the win after 4 1/3 innings of work where he allowed three hits, two earned runs, one walk and struck out four batters. At the plate, five different Golden Eagles recorded multi-hit games and seven different batters drove in at least one run.

GAME 2: ORU 4, SDSU 3

South Dakota State overcame a slow start offensively and a two-run deficit, but dropped game two of the doubleheader 4-3.

Oral Roberts starter Isaac Coffey retired the first 10 SDSU batters of the game. Consecutive doubles by Ira and Badger in the fifth helped the Jacks finally break through and score their first run of the game. Later in the inning, Jess Bellows delivered an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.

The Golden Eagles answered back with a two-run single in the sixth to take back the lead.

Looking to start a rally, Ryan McDonald tripled to center to start the SDSU seventh inning and later scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 4-3. But that would be all for the SDSU offense as the final six batters were retired to end the game.

Drew Beazley struck out four, walked three, allowed one earned run and three hits in three innings pitched. Brett Mogen went 2 1/3 innings, giving up one earned run and two walks. Ryan Bourassa pitched the final inning and two thirds as he struck out five.

Bellows, McDonald, Hackman, Ira, Badger and Colton Cox each recorded a hit for the Jacks

ORU's Ryan Cash finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs. Coffey threw five innings, allowed four hits, two earned runs and struck out five.

Game notes

Badger hit his second grand slam of the season.
Ira finished the day 3-for-6 with two doubles and a triple.
Hackman recorded his second consecutive three-hit day in game one. The junior is now seven for his last 11.
McDonald extended his on-base streak to 15.
Mogen is tied for fourth place with Chad Coley (1990-93) on the program's career appearances list with 70. Additionally, Mogen broke his streak of three consecutive scoreless outings in game two.

Up next
South Dakota State and Oral Roberts continue the series tomorrow with a single game starting at 1 p.m. at Erv Huether Field.

-GoJacks.com-