JACKS TAKE FINALE AT TARLETON, WIN SERIES

Sunday, February 22

Stephenville, Texas

noon

South Dakota State University

3-5

Tarleton State

4-3

South Dakota State

Tarleton State

Photo by: Jenna Batka

2/22/2026 5:39:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Sam Schlecht tossed five shutout innings and three South Dakota State relievers combined to hold Tarleton State to one run the rest of the way for a Jackrabbit baseball team that secured a series win with a 5-1 victory Sunday afternoon at the TSU Baseball Complex.

In winning the series two games to one, SDSU improved to 3-5 overall. Tarleton State dropped to 4-3 on the season.

The Jackrabbits opened the scoring with a run in the second inning without the benefit of a hit. After the first two SDSU hitters of the inning were retired, Carter Taylor, Travis Finney and Grant Sorensen all walked to load the bases. Brady Brown was then hit by a pitch that was confirmed after a lengthy video review to force in Taylor.

SDSU added to its lead with another two-out rally in the top of the sixth. Owen Siegert plated Brown with a double down the left-field line for one run and Luke Luskey later drove in Siegert with an infield single for a 3-0 lead.

Schlecht, meanwhile, kept the Texans off balance at the plate in his second start of the season. The senior right-hander struck out four, walked two and scattered four hits in his five innings of work.

Kaden Rylance pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth before running into some trouble in the home half of the seventh. Cage McCloud walked to lead off the frame and later scored on a base hit by Rayner Heinrich. Fellow freshman Logan Campbell then entered in relief and issued a walk to load the bases before striking out the next batter looking to get out of the jam.

A Tarleton State error to begin the Jackrabbit eighth opened the door for SDSU to push its lead to 5-1. Grant Sorensen reached on the error and later scored on a wild pitch. Brown scored the other run on a sacrifice fly by Nolan Grawe after being hit by a pitch for the third time in the game.

Campbell worked a clean eighth inning before Tristan Augedahl recorded the final three outs.

Taylor and Dayton Franke each tallied two of the Jackrabbits' eight hits in the contest. Heinrich posted two of the Texans' five hits.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits resume road action with a four-game series Feb. 27 through March 1 at Central Arkansas. Friday's series opener is slated for 4 p.m. at Bear Stadium in Conway, Arkansas.

NOTES

The all-time series between SDSU and Tarleton is tied at three wins each
Grawe extended his streak of reaching base safely to 24 games, dating back to the 2025 season
Luskey's RBI single in the sixth inning was his 100^th career hit
Taylor extended his hitting streak to six games
Siegert batted .583 (7-for-12) in the series
Brown became the second Jackrabbit this week (Dayton Franke) to be hit by a pitch three times in a game, which matches a program single-game mark in the Division I era (since 2005)
Augedahl made his second consecutive appearance in the series
SDSU did not commit an error in the three-game series