McCAY TIES RECORD IN LEAGUE-OPENING WIN

Friday, March 15

Tulsa, Okla.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

3/15/2024 10:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. — Nic McCay tied a South Dakota State Division I-era single-game record with 13 strikeouts to help lead the Jackrabbits to a 5-2 victory over Oral Roberts in the Summit League baseball opener for both teams Friday night at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

In starting league play with a win over the defending champions, SDSU improved to 8-10 overall. ORU dropped to 7-11 on the year.

The Jackrabbits plated the first run of the game in the top of the third inning when freshman Bryce Ronken led off with a triple past the outstretched glove of the center fielder and scored on a squeeze bunt by Jordan Sagedahl that resulted in a single.

SDSU put together a three-run frame in the sixth to knock out Golden Eagle starter Jakob Hall. Cael Frost, who was 3-for-4 in his Summit League debut, started the rally with a single and scored on a double to the right-center gap by Dawson Parry. After an infield single by Cade Stuff put runners at the corners, Jess Bellows delivered a run-scoring single that brought home Parry. Stuff later scored the third run of the inning on a bases-loaded walk to Sagedahl.

Frost scored an insurance run in the seventh inning, singling and advancing all the way to third on a two-base error before crossing home plate on a sacrifice fly by Stuff.

Stuff tallied two of the Jackrabbits' 11 hits.

McCay, meanwhile, carried a shutout into the eighth inning, but exited after allowing back-to-back singles to Elijah Rodriguez and Holden Breeze to begin the inning. Alex Clemons walked the first two batters he faced to force in the first ORU run of the game and another run scored on a misplayed ball in the outfield that still resulted in an out, but escaped further damage.

Clemons tallied the first out of the bottom of the ninth before Dylan Driessen came on with the tying run at the plate to earn his first career save by retiring both batters he faced.

McCay's 13 strikeouts came in bunches as the right-hander, who missed three of the last four seasons due to injuries, struck out the side in the fourth and sixth innings, while fanning two batters in the second, third and seventh frames. His 13 strikeouts matched the total put up by Brady Stover in the first game of an April 7, 2018, doubleheader against Fort Wayne that was played in Joplin, Missouri.

A senior from Carlisle, Iowa, McCay allowed five hits and walked two in his seven-plus innings of work.

Hall surrendered nine hits and five runs — four earned — in 6 1/3 innings for ORU. He struck out three and walked two.

UP NEXT
The two teams are slated to play the middle game of their three-game series at 2 p.m. Saturday.

NOTES

ORU leads the all-time series, 74-21
SDSU ended a six-game losing streak against the Golden Eagles
The Jackrabbits moved to 8-8 in Summit League openers
SDSU has scored first in 15 of their 18 games this season
Frost extended his hitting streak to 16 games and is now batting .405
Jackrabbit pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts in the game as Clemons tallied three and Driessen added one, in addition to McCay's career high 13 K's
Clemons has struck out 15 batters in 8 2/3 innings this season
McCay vaulted from 10^th to sixth in career strikeouts at SDSU with 181, passing Jon Maras (175 strikeouts from 1989-92), Ryan Froom (176 strikeouts from 2014-19), Tyler Olmstead (178 strikeouts from 2017-21) and Layne Somsen (180 K's from 2009-13)