BROOKINGS, S.D. (SDSU) — South Dakota State scored five times in the bottom of the third inning and Dylan Driessen pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief as the Jackrabbit baseball team opened a three-game Summit League series with a 7-5 victory over Omaha Friday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.
In winning their second game in a row, the Jackrabbits improved to 6-22 overall and 3-8 in league play. Omaha dropped to 11-19 overall and 5-8 in The Summit League.
SDSU sent 10 men to the plate in the third inning, which started with a bang as Jess Bellows connected on his first home run of the season, a solo shot to left field. After Dagen Schramm walked and Bryce Ronken was hit by a pitch, Nolan Grawe drove in the second run of the inning with a double to center. That would be the first of four consecutive hits by the Jackrabbits as Carter Sintek, Luke Luskey and Owen Siegert followed with successive run-scoring singles to knock out Maverick starter Oliver Mabee.
The Jackrabbits increased their lead to 6-0 in the fourth inning when Davis Carr scored on a wild pitch.
Freshman right-hander Caleb Duerr held Omaha scoreless through the first four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth. The Mavericks loaded the bases as the first three hitters in the frame notched base hits, two of which were infield singles. Henry Zipay walked to force in the first Maverick run and a second run scored on a groundout before Mason Gaines hit a two-run double to center field to pull Omaha to within 6-4.
The Mavericks cut the deficit to a single run the next inning as Blake Stenger was hit by a pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly after stealing his third base of the afternoon. Ty Madison came on in relief of Duerr to record the first two outs of the inning before giving way to Driessen.
A right-hander from Omaha, Driessen did not allow a hit in posting his second save of the season. He struck out six, walked two and hit one batter. Duerr, meanwhile, scattered eight hits over five-plus innings, striking out three and walking one.
Luskey swung the momentum back in the Jackrabbits’ favor at the plate by hitting his league-leading ninth home run of the season with two outs in the home half of the seventh. His solo blast to left field was his second hit of the game and helped pace SDSU’s 10-8 advantage in hits.
Schramm also tallied two hits for the Jackrabbits, while Jackson Trout notched a pair of hits for Omaha.
UP NEXT
The second game of the series is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday.
NOTES
- Omaha leads the all-time series, 96-92-1
- Ceremonies were held prior to the game to dedicate the new artificial turf playing surface at Erv Huether Field
- The Jackrabbits improved to 4-2 on their home field this season
- SDSU hit multiple home runs in a game for the third time this season
- Luskey upped his career home run total to 17, surpassing his season total from his freshman campaign
- Keagen Jirschele extended his hitting streak to seven games with a fifth-inning double
- Ronken extended his streak of reaching base safely to 14 games, while Siegert has now reached base in 13 consecutive games
- Driessen took over the team lead in strikeouts with 31 in 22 2/3 innings
