CARLSON, BISHOP PITCH GEMS IN SWEEP OF UST

Sunday, May 15

Brookings, S.D.

noon

South Dakota State University

20-19, 11-7

St. Thomas

13-28, 7-13

St. Thomas

South Dakota State

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

5/15/2022 7:38:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

South Dakota State starters Cody Carlson and Owen Bishop turned in strong outings and the Jackrabbit offense continued its hot streak with eight home runs in recording a doubleheader sweep of St. Thomas Sunday afternoon in Summit League baseball action at Erv Huether Field.

With the 9-0 and 11-2 victories, SDSU climbed over the .500 mark for the first time this season by improving to 21-19 overall and 12-7 in league play. The Tommies dropped to 13-29 overall and 7-14 in The Summit League.

Game 1: SDSU 9, St. Thomas 0
Carlson tossed a two-hit, complete-game shutout and struck out a career-high eight batters to lead the Jackrabbits to victory in the opener.

In what would be a sign of things to come, Henry George jumped on the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning for a home run down the right-field line to give SDSU the early lead. It was George's first home run of the season.

The bottom two batters in the Jackrabbit order hit back-to-back homers in a three-run home half of the second as Jordan Sagedahl followed a two-run blast by Thatcher Kozal. In the third inning, Dawson Parry hit his third homer of the series, lining a two-run shot to right-center to up the SDSU lead to 6-0.

Meanwhile, Carlson was cruising. He allowed a single to Max Moris to lead off the second inning, then retired the next 12 batters before a Jackrabbit error. Carlson, who hit two batters, did not walk a batter en route to his first career shutout. The only other hit he allowed was a single by Kyle Halverson with two outs in the ninth.

George finished the game a single away from the cycle as he went 3-for-4 at the plate. The graduate transfer from Woodbury, Minnesota, doubled in the second inning and delivered a run-scoring triple in the sixth inning. He later scored on a base hit by Luke Ira.

Ira, Parry and Sagedahl each collected two of the Jackrabbits' 11 hits.

Game 2: SDSU 11, St. Thomas 2
Bishop carried a perfect game into the seventh inning and Derek Hackman connected on a pair of three-run home runs for a career-high six runs batted in as the Jackrabbits notched their second nine-run win of the day.

Hackman capped a four-run first inning with his first three-run shot of the game, then provided the final tally with a three-run homer in the eighth.

In between, George and Ryan McDonald added solo round-trippers in the fifth inning for a 6-0 lead. McDonald had opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single.

Two other Jackrabbit runs scored on wild pitches as St. Thomas pitchers issued nine walks in the contest. Conversely, SDSU pitchers did not walk a batter in 18 innings on Sunday.

Bishop retired the first 18 batters he faced before Parker Mathieson broke up the bid for a perfect game with an infield single. The Tommies went on to score twice in the seventh inning on an RBI bunt single by Halverson and sacrifice fly by Moris.

Bishop's eight strikeouts in seven innings tied a career high. Bret Barnett added a pair of strikeouts over the final two innings.

SDSU held a 10-5 advantage in hits as McDonald, Parry and Hackman each posted two hits.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits close out the regular season by hosting Oral Roberts in a three-game series. Thursday's series opener is set for 3 p.m. at Erv Huether Field.

NOTES

The Jackrabbits swept the season series from St. Thomas, 6-0
SDSU matched a season high with four home runs in each game
The Jackrabbits have homered in 22 of their last 23 games
George went 142 at-bats before his first home run, then hit two in his first seven at-bats on Sunday
George finished the series 7-for-12 (.583 batting average) with five RBIs and a 1.417 slugging percentage
Parry was 6-for-13 (.462 average) in the series with three homer and eight runs driven in
Carlson became the first Jackrabbit to throw a nine-inning shutout since Tyler Olmstead tossed a four-hitter against Purdue Fort Wayne on May 3, 2019
Hackman's two-home run performance was the second of his career (first: March 20, 2021, at Omaha)
SDSU has recorded double figures for hits in six consecutive games and 10 of its last 11