JACKRABBITS FALL IN BASEBALL SEASON OPENER

Friday, February 17

Little Rock, Ark.

3 p.m.

South Dakota State University

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Little Rock

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South Dakota State

Little Rock

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

2/17/2023 7:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Little Rock jumped out to an 8-1 lead through two innings and held off South Dakota State, 9-6, in the college baseball opener for both teams Friday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field.

The Jackrabbits grabbed an early lead with an unearned run in the top of the first inning. After Ryan McDonald reached on a two-base error, Dawson Parry delivered a two-out, run-scoring single to right field.

Little Rock responded with a three-run home run by Skyler Trevino in the home half of the opening frame, then put five runs on the board in the second inning to chase SDSU starter Blake Kunz from the game. Kunz walked in the first run of the fateful second frame before giving way to Reece Arbogast, who was greeted by a two-run double by Noah Brewer. Trevino drove in his fourth run of the game on a groundout, while Brewer scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.

The SDSU bullpen tandem of Arbogast and Dylan Richey would combine to give up only one run the rest of the way, allowing the Jackrabbits to put together a comeback attempt. McDonald pulled SDSU to within 8-2 with a solo home run in the third inning and Nic Nelson cut the deficit to two runs with a grand slam in the fifth off reliever Noah Burkey.

Austin Stubber and Jacob Weatherley each followed with two shutout innings to preserve the lead for the Trojans. Weatherly struck out three batters to earn the save.

Hits were even at seven for each team. Nelson and Reece Anderson led the Jackrabbits with two hits apiece, while Nico Baumbach paced Little Rock with a pair of hits.

Arbogast fanned a career-high seven batters in 4 1/3 innings of one-run baseball. Richey tossed the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits. He walked one, but did not strike out a batter.

Kunz struggled with his control in his first career start, walking two and hitting four batters while being charged with seven runs. All three outs he recorded were via the strikeout in his inning-plus of work.

Little Rock starter Jackson Wells struck out seven over four innings. He surrendered two runs on three hits and walked one.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits and Trojans are scheduled to play the middle game of their three-game weekend series at 2 p.m. Saturday.

NOTES

Little Rock leads the all-time series, 5-2
The Jackrabbits dropped to 5-14 in season openers in the Division I era (since 2005)
McDonald's home run was the 19^th of his career, which ranks as the most among current Jackrabbit players
McDonald reached base safely for the 34^th consecutive game dating back to March 2022
Nelson's grand slam was the first of his career and the sixth hit by SDSU since the start of the 2022 season

-GoJacks.com-