Caleb Duerr and Jake Goble combined to hold Northern Colorado scoreless over the final eight innings and Owen Siegert supplied the offense with a pair of home runs to lead South Dakota State to an 11-2 victory over Northern Colorado in Summit League baseball action Saturday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.
In evening the three-game series at a game apiece, the Jackrabbits improved to 13-29 overall and 9-13 in league play. UNC dropped to 17-27 overall and 8-15 in The Summit League.
Duerr struggled in the early going as the Bears took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. After a leadoff walk to Carter Monda and bunt single by Brett Barber, Jake King plated both runs with a two-out single up the middle.
A freshman from Melbourne, Iowa, Siegert put SDSU on the board with a home run to lead off the bottom of the second, then helped jump-start a six-run fourth inning. After Bryce Ronken singled to lead off the home half of the fourth, Siegert doubled off the fence in right field to move Ronken to third. After Jess Bellows was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Dagen Schramm and Nic Werk each drew two-out walks to force in the tying and go-ahead runs.
More two-out magic followed as Carter Sintek and Nolan Grawe hit back-to-back two-run doubles to push the Jackrabbit lead to 7-2.
Schramm added another run-scoring double in the fifth and Siegert capped the scoring with a three-run homer to right in the eighth.
Meanwhile, Duerr limited Northern Colorado to only three base runners the remainder of his five-inning start. The freshman right-hander allowed only three hits while striking out three and walking four.
Goble followed with four hitless and scoreless innings, striking out one while allowing only a walk and a hit batter en route to his first career save.
SDSU finished with a 12-3 advantage in hits as Siegert, Sintek and Ronken each tallied three hits. The Bears did not record a hit after the first inning.
UNC starter Trevor Landen struck out seven, but allowed the first six runs after surrendering four hits and walking two. Five other Bear hurlers were summoned to the mound on Saturday.
UP NEXT
The decisive game of the series is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
NOTES
UNC leads the season series, 3-2
The Jackrabbits lead the all-time series, 42-37
SDSU improved to 10-5 at Erv Huether Field this season
Siegert's home runs were his fourth and fifth of the season and he also moved into a tie for the team lead in doubles with 10
Siegert became the third Jackrabbit player to hit two home runs in a game this season, joining Bryce Ronken (March 1 at Sacramento State) and Luke Luskey (April 22 vs. Northwestern)
Sintek upped his team-leading hit total to 60 and is 6-for-9 (.667 batting average) in the series
Ronken is batting .522 (12-for-23) in five games against Northern Colorado this season
Duerr evened his record at 4-4
Goble issued his first walk in his last six outings, covering 27 1/3 innings