OMAHA, Neb. — The South Dakota State pitching tandem of Arlen Peters and Jake Goble cooled the Omaha bats for the first eight innings while Carter Sintek continued his hot hitting for the Jackrabbit baseball team in a 7-3, series-opening victory Friday night at Tal Anderson Field.
With their sixth win in their last eight games, the Jackrabbits improved to 15-29 overall and overtook the Mavericks for fourth place in the Summit League standings with an 11-13 mark. Omaha dropped to 18-25 overall and 11-14 in league play.
Omaha grabbed the early lead with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Paul Schuyler led off the frame with a single against Jackrabbit starter Arlen Peters, moved to second on a bunt and scored on Henry Zipay's single to left field.
The reigning Summit League Peak Performer of the Week who played high school baseball at nearby Fremont, Sintek put the Jackrabbits out front with a two-run double as part of a four-run top of the fifth. The rally began when Jess Bellows reached on an error and Davis Carr walked. After both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch, Keagen Jirschele walked to load the bases. Two batters later, Sintek doubled into the left-field corner to score both Bellows and Carr.
SDSU tacked on two more runs in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Nolan Grawe and Sintek capped the scoring when he came across to score on an infield single by Bryce Ronken.
Peters would keep the Mavericks off the board in the fourth and fifth innings as he registered three strikeouts and walked only one in recording his first victory in two seasons as a Jackrabbit.
The Jackrabbits then turned the ball over to Goble to start the sixth, who followed with three scoreless innings. In the meantime, SDSU extended its lead to 7-1 with three runs in the top of the seventh. Jirschele opened the inning with a walk, stole second and scored on Sintek's second hit of the game, a single through the left side. Later in the frame, Adam Benes came through with a two-run single up the middle that plated both Nolan Grawe and Ronken.
Sintek, Grawe and Owen Siegert each tallied two of the Jackrabbits' eight hits.
Goble, who struck out three and walked three, ran into trouble in the bottom of the ninth, when he gave up a leadoff double to Mason Gaines and issued two of his walks before Jackson Trout dumped a two-run single to center field with two outs. Jackrabbit closer Dylan Driessen then entered the game and struck out Zipay with the tying run on deck to notch his sixth save of the season.
Tyler Bishop was the lone player for Omaha with more than one of the Mavericks' seven hits.
Omaha starter Ben Weber took the loss despite striking out seven in six-plus innings. Only two of the five runs he allowed were earned, but he put five runners on via walks and gave up five hits.
UP NEXT
Game 2 of the series is slated for 6 p.m. Saturday
NOTES
The Jackrabbits lead the season series, 3-1
Omaha leads the all-time series, 97-94-1
Sintek posted his 20th multi-hit game of the season, including his fourth in a row
Sintek has tallied 11 hits in the last four games, raising his team-leading batting average to .363
Ronken reached base safely for the 23rd consecutive game, extending his longest streak by a Jackrabbit this season
Peters matched his longest outing of the season at five innings