JACKRABBITS OPEN SUMMIT LEAGUE SEASON AT ORU

Friday, March 13

Tulsa, Okla.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts

South Dakota State baseball players huddle for a pregame prayer prior to their March 8, 2026, game against Southern Illinois as part of the Cambria Classic played at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Photo by: Ricky Bassman

3/12/2026 8:30:00 PM | Baseball

South Dakota State (5-11, 0-0 Summit) at Oral Roberts (7-9, 0-0)

When	Friday-Sunday, March 13-15 • 6 p.m. Friday \| • 2 p.m. Saturday \| • 1 p.m. Sunday
Where	Chapman Park \| Tulsa, Oklahoma
TV	Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus Friday's Broadcast \| Saturday's Broadcast \| Sunday's Broadcast
Radio	None
Live Stats	ORUAthletics.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Oral Roberts \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

The Summit League portion of South Dakota State's 2026 baseball schedule gets under way this weekend with the Jackrabbits traveling to league preseason favorite Oral Roberts for a three-game series.

Friday's series opener is slated for a 6 p.m. first pitch at Chapman Park on the ORU campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The middle game of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, with Sunday's finale scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.

Video coverage of all three games will be available through the Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus.

SDSU enters the weekend with a 5-11 overall record and will look to end a three-game losing streak. The Jackrabbits dropped a 9-0 decision Wednesday night at Kansas State in their final tune-up before league play.

ORU, meanwhile, has started its season with a 7-9 overall record. The Golden Eagles have dropped their last two contests, including an 8-7 decision this past Tuesday at Central Arkansas.

Updates of Jackrabbit baseball will be available throughout the week via X/Twitter (@GoJacksBaseball) and through GoJacks.com.

THE SERIES: Friday's series opener between South Dakota State and Oral Roberts will mark the 107th all-time meeting between the two programs on the baseball diamond. ORU has held the upper hand in the series, which dates back to 1971, by an 83-23 count.

The Golden Eagles swept the season series a year ago, winning all seven matchups. ORU won both games of a doubleheader in a weather-altered series early in the league season in Tulsa, Oklahoma, then closed out the regular season by sweeping a four-game series at Erv Huether Field behind the strength of 11 home runs.

ORU completed the sweep of the season series by posting an 11-2 victory over the Jackrabbits in the opening round of the Summit League Baseball Championship played in Omaha, Nebraska.

SDSU won the 2024 season series, three games to two, after becoming the first Summit League team ever to sweep a three-game series at Oral Roberts to begin conference play that year.

SHORT HOPS: Following are some more quick notes regarding the South Dakota State baseball team heading into this weekend's series at Oral Roberts:

All four of the Jackrabbits' games last week were decided by one run. SDSU went 1-3 in those games, with the lone victory a 5-4 win over Northwestern in the opening game of the Cambria Classic on March 6. SDSU dropped one-run games to Nebraska (L, 4-5) on March 4, as well as the last two games of the Cambria Classic against host Minnesota (L, 2-3 in 10 innings) and Southern Illinois (L, 4-5). Overall, the Jackrabbits are 1-4 in one-run games this season.
SDSU set a program single-game record by scoring 17 runs in the fourth inning of its 19-11, series-opening win at Incarnate Word. Each of the first 12 batters of the inning reached base safely and a total of 21 men went to the plate in the frame.
After allowing double figures in runs in each of their first five games, the Jacks have given up a total of 57 runs over the last 11 games. Starters Sam Schlecht and Sam Novotny have led the way; Schlecht is 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA (4 ER in 17.2 IP) with 18 strikeouts and six walks over his last three starts, while Novotny has compiled a 2.41 ERA (5 ER in 18.2 IP) with 13 strikeouts and only two walks in that same span.
Left-handed reliever Tristan Augedahl has registered 18 strikeouts in only 11 innings of work so far this season. Augedahl factored in the decision in each of the first two games of the Cambria Classic and has appeared in seven games. He has struck out four batters in three of those outings, including in the Feb. 28 win at Central Arkansas.
Newcomer Austin Henry has yet to allow a run in seven relief appearances covering seven innings. The Dell Rapids native was part of a Jackrabbit bullpen that strung together six consecutive scoreless innings March 4 at Nebraska with 1 2/3 shutout innings, followed by a season-best 2 1/3 scoreless frames March 7 at Minnesota. Henry has given up only one hit so far this season, holding opponents to a .053 batting average.
Freshman Logan Campbell made his team-leading eighth pitching appearance of the season in the March 11 game at Kansas State and recorded two shutout innings while facing only five batters as the Jackrabbits turned a pair of double plays behind him.
SDSU ended up turning three double plays in the Kansas State game, marking the first time since a Feb. 24, 2024, game at New Mexico that the Jackrabbits accomplished the feat. The Jacks have 12 double plays to their credit so far this season and are fielding at a .977 clip
Sophomore center fielder Owen Siegert enters Friday's series opener riding a seven-game hitting streak. Siegert recently moved into the cleanup spot in the batting order and is 9-for-26 (.346 batting average) with a pair of doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored during his current streak, which began with a two-hit day in a Feb. 28 win at Central Arkansas.
Siegert has reached base safely in all 15 games he has played this season and 16 in a row dating back to the final game of the 2025 campaign to tie a career high.
Nic Werk had his career-best six-game hitting streak snapped in the March 1 game at Kansas State. After missing the season-opening eight-game road trip through Texas due to injury, Werk batted .350 (7-for-20) with three RBIs and three runs scored during his streak. Three of his hits were doubles, giving him a .500 slugging percentage.
A utility player, Werk has made three starts in left field, three at second base and two at shortstop since his return to the lineup.
Sophomore third baseman Nolan Grawe had his streak of reaching base safely end at 26 games in the March 1 series finale at Central Arkansas. Grawe ended the 2025 season by reaching base in the final 18 games of the year and reached base in the first eight games he played in 2026, including hitting his first home run of the season Feb. 27 to open the UCA series.
Long streaks are nothing new for Grawe, who has had separate hitting streaks of 19 games (2025) and 14 games (last 12 games or 2025 and first two games of 2026) en route to setting an SDSU freshman record with 69 hits in 2025. Grawe currently leads the team with six doubles after collecting three in the Cambria Classic last weekend.
Freshman Jaren Vogt hit the first Jackrabbit home run of the season in Game 2 of the series against UTSA, which also was his first career start. Vogt is a two-way player who has made three appearances on the mound, including starts in two mid-week games.
Sophomore Dayton Franke hit the first Jackrabbit grand slam of the season Feb. 18 at Incarnate Word. It was Franke's second career grand slam.
Franke hit his 10th career home run in his 109th collegiate at-bat at Nebraska on March 4, tying the game at 4-all in the eighth inning. As a freshman in 2025, Franke hit eight home runs in 65 at-bats, including three in one game against Oral Roberts, and has two home runs in 56 trips to the plate so far this season. Franke currently leads the team with 13 runs batted in.
Both Franke and Brady Brown were hit by pitches three times in a game last month. Franke was plunked three times in the Feb. 17 series opener at Incarnate Word, while Brown was hit three times in the Feb. 22 series finale at Tarleton State.
In all, Jackrabbit players have been hit by pitches a total of 33 times so far this season. Luke Luskey leads the team with seven, followed by Franke and Carter Taylor with six.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State has had two players selected as Kwik Star Summit League Baseball Peak Performers of the Week so far this season.

Most recently, right-hander Sam Schlecht was honored as the Kwik Star Summit League Peak Pitcher of the Week for his performance in a Feb. 28 victory at Central Arkansas.

A senior from Maple Grove, Minnesota, Schlecht carried a shutout into the sixth inning, stretching his scoreless innings streak to 10 before giving up a two-run home run. He struck out a season-high seven batters, walked only one and scattered four hits in improving to 2-1 on the season as the Jackrabbits held on for an 8-5 victory.

The previous week, outfielder Carter Taylor was named the Kwik Star Summit League Baseball Peak Performer of the Week after helping lead the Jackrabbits to three wins.

A freshman from Missoula, Montana, Taylor batted .522 (12-for-22) over five games and notched multiple hits in four of those contests. In his first career start, Feb. 17 at Incarnate Word, he went 4-for-6, including hitting his first collegiate home, driving in two runs and scoring twice in a 19-11 Jackrabbit victory. The following day he closed the series with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate that included three RBIs. Taylor, who hit safely in all five games last week to extend his overall hitting streak to six games, tallied two hits in both the Feb. 20 series opener and Feb. 22 finale at Tarleton State.

For the week, his totals included four runs scored, five RBIs, a .696 slugging percentage and a .577 on-base percentage.

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State has been picked to finish fourth in the upcoming Summit League baseball race, according to a preseason poll conducted among the league's six head coaches and announced Feb. 11.

The Jackrabbits totaled 12 points in the poll and are coming off a 2025 campaign in which they compiled a 16-36 overall record, including a 12-18 mark in The Summit League. SDSU returned to the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship, marking the 14th time in 16 years of Division I eligibility that the Jackrabbits qualified for the double-elimination tournament.

Oral Roberts earned the top spot in the preseason poll with 24 points and four first-place votes. Omaha received the other two first-place votes and tied with defending regular season champion St. Thomas for second place in the survey with 19 points.

North Dakota State (11 points) and Northern Colorado (6 points) rounded out the poll.

The top four teams in league play will advance to the Summit League Baseball Championship May 20-23 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In addition to the preseason poll, Jackrabbit first baseman Luke Luskey was named a Summit League Player to Watch and Ty Madison was selected as a Summit League Pitcher to Watch.

Luskey, a junior from Green Isle, Minnesota, has earned second-team all-Summit League honors each of the last two seasons. In 2025, he led the league with 14 home runs despite missing the final 12 games of the season due to injury. Luskey also paced the Jackrabbits with 52 runs batted in and a .691 slugging percentage while batting .336.

A senior from Omaha, Madison began the 2025 season in the starting rotation before moving to the bullpen. He made a team-high 22 appearances, striking out 26 batters in 30 innings and posting a 2-2 record.

SUMMIT LEAGUE SUCCESS: South Dakota State has been a consistent winner in The Summit League since it became a league member in 2008. Now in its 19th season as a member of The Summit League, the Jackrabbits have compiled a 239-210 (.532 winning percentage) record in regular season conference games.

SDSU has posted a .500 or better record in league play 10 times and has qualified for the four-team postseason tournament 14 out of the 16 years it has been eligible (no tournament in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic).

The Jackrabbits shared a Summit League regular season title in 2010 and won the league's postseason tournament in 2013.

COACH BISHOP: Rob Bishop, who has guided college baseball teams to more than 700 victories, was named head baseball coach at South Dakota State University on Aug. 1, 2016. Bishop is the ninth head coach in program history and the fourth in the Division I era of Jackrabbit baseball.

Through nine-plus seasons with the Jackrabbits, Bishop holds a 179-249 record at SDSU, including a 109-109 mark in Summit League regular season games. He also has led the Jackrabbits to the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship seven times, highlighted by finals appearances on two occasions — in 2018 and 2023.

The 2023 squad set a school record with 89 home runs in 52 games. SDSU played only one true home game but managed a 24-28 overall record and a winning season in Summit League play with a 13-11 mark. That momentum carried over to the four-team league postseason tournament, where the Jackrabbits made a run to the title game.

SDSU hit a Summit League-best 80 home runs in 2024 and also led the circuit with a .492 slugging percentage.

Overall, Bishop holds a 728-571-1 record (.560 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach. He earned his 700th career victory in the Jackrabbits' 11-7 win at North Dakota State on April 6, 2024.

Individually, Jackrabbit players have been honored as all-Summit League performers 48 times during Bishop's tenure, including seven all-league selections in 2025.

Prior to becoming head coach at SDSU, Bishop spent six years at NCAA Division II member Montana State University-Billings, where he led the Yellowjackets to back-to-back Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season titles in 2015 and 2016, attaining the program's first-ever 30-win season with a 30-20 record in 2016.

Previously, Bishop spent 10 years at Miles City Community College in Montana, where his teams won MonDak conference championships every year. His squads also claimed five consecutive junior college region titles and a Northwest District championship in 2007 to advance to the NJCAA Division II College World Series.

Bishop's teams won at least 30 games in all 10 seasons, including four with 40 wins. He ended his tenure at Miles City with a 377-151 overall record. He also served as athletic director the last five years of his tenure at Miles City.

Bishop served as a graduate assistant at SDSU under head coach Mark Ekeland during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In his first year as a head coach, Bishop led Huron University to the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference title in 2000 with a 38-18 record.

A 1994 graduate of Jamestown College, Bishop earned NAIA All-America honors during the 1992 and 1994 seasons as an infielder.

THE ROSTER: The 2025 SDSU baseball roster features 34 players from 10 different states and one foreign country (Australia). Of the 34 players, 13 are from Minnesota, five are from Nebraska and South Dakota, three are Iowa natives and two hail from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington. Arizona and Wyoming are represented by one player each.

By class, one is a graduate transfer, three are seniors and nine are juniors. The sophomore class consists of 10 players and there is one redshirt freshmen, while 10 are incoming freshmen.

ON DECK: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to complete their Spring Break road trip with two mid-week games early next week at Oklahoma State. Tuesday's series opener is slated for a 6 p.m. first pitch at O'Brate Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma, followed by a 4 p.m. contest on Wednesday, March 18.

The Jackrabbits' home opener is set for Friday, March 20 against North Dakota State.

-GoJacks.com-