McCAY SHINES AGAIN IN 1-0 VICTORY

Friday, March 22

Omaha, Neb. // Tal Anderson Field

11 a.m.

South Dakota State University

11-11, 4-0

St. Thomas (Minn.)

8-11, 3-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
South Dakota State	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0
St. Thomas (Minn.)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2

Photo by: SDSU Sports Information

3/22/2024 4:54:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. — South Dakota State right-hander Nic McCay wrote another chapter in his comeback story by pitching eight shutout innings Friday in a 1-0 Jackrabbit victory over St. Thomas in the opening game of a Summit League baseball series at Tal Anderson Field.

The Jackrabbits remained unbeaten in league play, improving to 4-0 and 11-11 overall. St. Thomas dropped to 3-1 in The Summit League and 8-11 overall.

McCay, who missed three of the last four seasons due to injury, struck out eight while allowing three hits, a walk and a hit batter. The reigning Summit League Peak Pitcher of the Week, McCay retired the first seven Tommie batters he faced and didn't allow more than one base runner in any inning.

SDSU, which managed only two hits in the game, scored the lone run of the game in the third inning. Jess Bellows led off the inning by being hit by a pitch and moved to second base on a walk to Thatcher Kozal. After both runners successfully executed a double steal, Bellows came across on a sacrifice fly by freshman third baseman Bryce Ronken.

Alex Clemons pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth with a strikeout to notch his third save of the season.

Dawson Parry and Cade Stuff tallied the two Jackrabbit hits, with Parry's hit a double. Cael Frost, who entered the day with a 19-game hitting streak, went 0-for-3 with a walk to put an end to his streak, which match Tyson Fisher (2006) and Matt Johnson (2016) for the longest streak in a single season in program history during the Division I era (since 2015).

St. Thomas starter Jacob Mrosko took the loss despite striking out eight over 6 1/3 innings.

UP NEXT
The two squads are slated to wrap up their weekend series with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 10:30 a.m.

NOTES

SDSU improved to 10-0 against St. Thomas since the Tommies joined The Summit League in 2022
The Jackrabbits' last 4-0 start in Summit League play was in 2011, with the winning streak eventually reaching six games
McCay lowered his earned run average to 2.28 and has struck out 38 batters in 27 2/3 innings this season
McCay's start was the 33^rd of his career, tying him with Trevor Schulte (1991-94) and Tom Mousel (1999-2002) for the eighth-most in program history
The Jackrabbits' last win by shutout was a 7-0 victory over St. Thomas in the second game of a doubleheader at Bob Shelden Field on April 23, 2023
SDSU won a game by a 1-0 score for the first time since a home win versus Fort Wayne on March 31, 2017

-GoJacks.com-