JACKS STAY HOT WITH WIN AT OMAHA

Friday, May 6

Omaha, Neb.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

17-18, 0

Omaha

20-23, 0

South Dakota State

Omaha

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

5/6/2022 10:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. — Ryan McDonald plated the go-ahead run with a single in the top of the seventh inning and added a solo home run in the eighth to supply the offense, while Nic McCay and Ryan Bourassa combined to strike out 15 batters as South Dakota State opened a three-game Summit League baseball series with a 5-2 victory Friday night at Tal Anderson Field.

In posting their 11^th win in their last 14 games, the Jackrabbits improved to 17-18 overall and 8-6 in league play. Omaha dropped to 20-23 overall and 10-6 in The Summit League.

With the game tied at 2-all, Henry George started the Jackrabbits' seventh-inning rally with a ground-rule double to left field to lead off the inning. McDonald, who was 3-for-4 on the night, followed with a single up the middle that brought home George. McDonald took second on the throw home, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a groundout off the bat of Dawson Parry to give SDSU a 4-2 lead.

McDonald connected on his eighth home run of the season with two outs in the eighth for what would be the final run of the night.

SDSU reliever Ryan Bourassa closed out the Jackrabbit victory with three dominant innings of relief. The final eight outs the right-hander recorded were all via the strikeout as he allowed one walk and one hit en route to his fourth save of the season.

Jackrabbit starter Nic McCay fanned seven Mavericks over six innings. He allowed two runs, the first on an RBI single by Harrison Denk that gave Omaha a 1-0 lead in the second inning, with the other run scoring on a solo home run by Eduardo Rosario in the sixth.

Reece Anderson gave SDSU a 2-1 lead with a two-run single in the fourth that scored both Luke Ira and Drew Beazley. Ira tallied three of the Jackrabbits' 12 hits, with Anderson and George each collecting a pair of hits.

Mike Boeve hit a pair of doubles to lead Omaha's seven-hit effort.

Four Maverick pitchers combined to notch 15 strikeouts, led by starter Caleb Riedel and Joey Machado with six each. Machado took the loss after allowing the two seventh-inning runs.

UP NEXT
Game 2 of the series is slated for 6 p.m. Saturday.

NOTES

Omaha leads the all-time series, 91-85-1
SDSU extended its school-record streak of games with a home run to 18, dating back to the second game of a March 19 doubleheader at Northwestern State
McDonald has reached base safely in 23 consecutive games
McDonald regained sole possession of the team lead in RBIs with 30
Beazley increased his hitting streak to 10 games and has reached base in 18 games in a row
Parry also upped his hitting streak to 10 games with an infield single in the ninth inning
Ira recorded his sixth three-hit game of the season and his team-leading 11^th multi-hit game of 2022
The Jackrabbits' 15 strikeouts ranks as the most by its pitching staff in a nine-inning game this season
Bourassa has struck out 52 batters in 33.2 innings this season