JACKRABBITS EDGED IN OPENER BY PURDUE

Friday, February 18

Sugar Land, Texas

3 p.m.

South Dakota State University

0-1

Purdue

1-0

South Dakota State

Purdue

Photo by: Erik Williams

2/18/2022 7:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SUGAR LAND, Texas — Purdue scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally past South Dakota State, 5-4, in both teams' college baseball opener Friday afternoon at Constellation Field.

The Boilermakers trailed 4-1 entering the bottom of the third, but quickly tied the game as Curtis Washington plated the first run of the frame with a base hit and Cam Thompson followed with a two-run single.

Washington, who was 2-for-4 on the day, came through again in the home half of the seventh as he doubled down the left-field line to score Mike Bolton Jr., who started a two-out rally with a walk against Jackrabbit freshman reliever Jake Goble.

SDSU scored all four of its runs in the top of the third inning. After a double play, Derek Hackman put the Jackrabbits on the board with a solo home run down the right-field line. Two batters later, Jess Bellows put SDSU in the lead with a RBI double and Luke Ira connected on the second Jackrabbit homer of the inning, a two-run shot to left-center.

Purdue had taken a 1-0 lead on a solo home run by Paul Toetz off Nic McCay, who was making his first appearance in a Jackrabbit uniform since the 2019 season. McCay worked four innings, allowing four runs on three hits. He struck out four, walked two and hit two batters.

Goble took the loss despite a strong collegiate debut in which he surrendered only the one run on two hits. He walked one and hit a batter, but did not record any strikeouts.

Hackman was the lone player with more than one hit for the Jackrabbits, who out-hit Purdue, 7-5, going 2-for-3.

Three Purdue pitchers combined to strike out 13 batters. Landon Weins, who pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief, struck out seven in picking up the victory in relief of Wyatt Wendell. Griffin Lohman fanned four batters in his two innings of work to earn the save.

UP NEXT
The two teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.

NOTES

Friday's game marked the first-ever meeting between SDSU and Purdue on the baseball diamond
The Jackrabbits dropped to 2-4 in season openers under head coach Rob Bishop
Bellows reached base for the 10^th consecutive game, dating back to last season
Ira started his 70^th consecutive game

-GoJacks.com-