JACKS, FLYERS SPLIT FRIDAY DOUBLEHEADER

Friday, March 8

Dayton, Ohio

9 a.m. ET/8 a.m. CT

South Dakota State University

7-6

Dayton

6-6

South Dakota State

Dayton

Jess Bellows Teaser vs North Dakota State 2023-01

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

3/8/2024 4:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

DAYTON, Ohio — South Dakota State hit three home runs to win the opening game of a college baseball doubleheader, 8-5, Friday, but an eight-run seventh inning by Dayton in Game 2 sank the Jackrabbits' bid for a sweep at Woerner Field at AES Ohio Stadium.

SDSU moved to 7-7 on the season after the doubleheader that began at 9 a.m. local time in advance of inclement weather in the forecast. Dayton ended the day 7-6 overall.

Game 1: South Dakota State 8, Dayton 5
The Jackrabbits put together a pair of three-run innings to win for the fourth time in five games.

Jess Bellows opened the scoring in a historic way for the Jackrabbits, connecting on a home run to lead off the third inning that extended his hitting streak to a school-record 20 games. Bellows hit safely in each of the last nine games of the 2023 campaign and added hits in his first 11 games of the current season to surpass 19-game single-season streaks by Tyson Fisher (2006) and Matt Johnson (2009).

Dayton tied the game with a run in the home half of the third inning, but the Jackrabbits responded with a three-run top of the fourth. Carter Sintek and Dawson Parry started the frame with back-to-back singles before Cael Frost launched his team-leading seventh home run of the season over the fence in center field to give SDSU a 4-1 lead.

SDSU scored for the third inning in a row when Reece Anderson reached on an error with two outs and came across on a triple to left-center by Sintek.

The Flyers drew to within 5-4 in the home half of the fifth as David Mendez tripled and scored on a groundout, after which David Pedanou hit a solo homer to knock SDSU starter Nic McCay out of the game one away from qualifying for the victory.

Dayton threatened to tie the game or take the lead in the seventh inning as they put runners at second third with one out. Dylan Driessen replaced Alex Koep on the mound for the Jackrabbits and got out of the jam with a strikeout and lineout around a hit batter that loaded the bases. The Flyers stranded 13 runners in the game.

The Jackrabbits gained some breathing room with a three-run eighth that included Sintek's third hit of game, an RBI single that plated Anderson, and a two-run home run by Luke Luskey down the left-field line.

Alex Clemons' relief stint got off to a rocky start as the Jackrabbit closer allowed a leadoff homer to Carlos Castillo in the eighth and walked the next batter. From there, however, Clemons was lights out as he struck out the next five batters in a row with a groundout for the final out to finish off the victory.

Sintek's 3-for-5 performance at the plate paced the Jackrabbits' 11-hit attack, while Anderson and Luskey each tallied two hits. Pedanou turned in a two-hit effort for Dayton.

McCay continued his second comeback from injury by logging five strikeouts in his 4 2/3 innings, but uncharacteristically struggled with his command by walking six and hitting one batter.

Dayton starter Chris Peguero struck out eight over seven innings, but was assessed the loss after allowing five runs on six hits.

Game 2: Dayton 15, South Dakota State 5 (8 inn.)
Dayton sent 13 men to the plate in the bottom of the seventh to turn a one-run deficit into a 12-5 advantage.

The Flyers recorded only three hits in the fateful inning, which started with a single by Mendez. Michael Adair plated two runs with a double and Ryan MacDougall added a single that knocked in the final two runs of the frame. In between, four different Jackrabbit pitchers combined to walk six batters and hit another in the frame.

Dayton ended the game via the 10-run rule with three more runs in the eighth inning, capped by a two-run, game-ending double by Mendez.

The Flyers grabbed a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning thanks to a two-run single by Mendez, who led UD's 11-hit effort by going 3-for-4 with four runs batted in.

SDSU tied the game at 3-all with a two-run fourth inning. Sintek and Dawson Parry accounted for the first run with back-to-back doubles. Parry, who plated the Jackrabbits' first run of the game with a single in the first inning, scored the tying run on an RBI groundout by Luskey.

A Frost sacrifice fly after a leadoff triple by Anderson knotted the game at 4-all and the Jackrabbits took a momentary lead in the seventh inning when Bellows was hit by a hit and later came around to score on a groundout by Anderson.

Parry was the lone Jackrabbit with more than one hit with a 2-for-4 performance.

Six Jackrabbit pitchers combined to issue 12 walks and hit seven more batters. Will Kent handled the bulk of the mound duties by tossing four innings of relief. He allowed four runs while striking out four and walking only one.

UP NEXT
Due to a change in the forecast, the Jackrabbits and Dayton are now slated to play a single game Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern (2 p.m. Central) and the series finale at noon ET (11 a.m. CT) on Sunday.

NOTES

Friday's games marked the first-ever meetings between SDSU and Dayton in baseball
Bellows' hitting streak ended in Game 2, but he did extend his streak of games reaching base safely to 31 games
Frost has hit safely in 12 consecutive games
Parry recorded his ninth multi-hit game of the season
SDSU homered in its first 13 games of the season before that streak was also broken in Game 2
The Jackrabbits have hit 28 home runs in 14 games this season, with Bellows becoming the 11^th different SDSU player with a round-tripper in 2024

-GoJacks.com-