ST. PAUL, Minn. — South Dakota State pulled away to defeat St. Thomas in the opener before the Tommies had the answers in the late innings of Game 2 as the two Summit League foes split a baseball doubleheader Friday afternoon at Koch Diamond.
SDSU moved to 10-21 overall and 5-6 in league play. The Tommies ended the day with a 6-22 overall record and a 3-7 mark in Summit League action.
Game 1: South Dakota State 7, St. Thomas 2
The Jackrabbits used a combination of productive outs, timely hitting and a solid combined pitching performance from Sam Schlecht and Tristan Augedahl to win the opener, 7-2.
The Tommies grabbed an early lead as Tanner Recchio led of the bottom of the first inning with a base hit, stole second and scored on a sacrifice fly by Matthew Maulik.St. Thomas poised to add to their lead an inning later with runners at the corners before Schlecht induced and inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
SDSU carried that momentum into its next turn at the plate by taking the lead with two runs in the top of the third. Keagen Jirschele started the rally when he was hit by a pitch and later scored on a fielder’s choice groundout off the bat of Luke Wroblewski. After a double by Nolan Grawe moved Wroblewski to third base, Luke Luskey plated the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.
The Jackrabbits added to their lead with a pair of runs in the fifth, starting when Wroblewski led off with a walk and stole second to move into scoring position. Luskey then delivered a single to left field to drive in Wroblewski, with Luskey later sliding across home plate for the second run of the frame on an opposite-field base hit by Dayton Franke.
Maulik homered with two outs in the sixth inning to pull St. Thomas to within 4-2 and bring an end to Schlecht’s day on the mound. The Jackrabbit right-hander struck out six, walked three and gave up four hits en route to his third win of the season.
SDSU responded with its third two-run inning of the game in the top of the seventh and added an unearned run in the eighth. Carter Taylor’s infield single after the Jackrabbits loaded the bases on two hit batters and a walk, drove in Luskey with the first run of the seventh inning and Jirschele notched an RBI on a groundout as Franke scored. Wroblewski tallied his third run of the game in the eighth after starting the inning by reaching on an error.
Augedahl worked the final 3 1/3 innings to record his second save of the season. The sophomore left-hander registered three strikeouts.
UST finished with a 9-6 advantage in hits, including two each by Recchio, Joe Roder and Chris Knowles. Franke tallied half of the Jackrabbits’ hit total with two singles and a double.
Game 2: St. Thomas 4, South Dakota State 1
The Tommies took a 2-1 lead on a run-scoring double by Zan Von Schlegell in the bottom of the seventh and thwarted two South Dakota State scoring opportunities in the late innings to earn a split of the doubleheader.
Von Schlegell’s go-ahead double down the third-base line greeted SDSU reliever Ty Madison after Adam Puder drew a one-out walk off Jackrabbit starter Sam Novotny. It firmly put the momentum in the Tommies’ favor after SDSU failed to score in the top of the seventh after Carter Taylor drew a leadoff walk and advanced all the way to third base with nobody out after a failed pickoff attempt. A lineout sandwiched around two flyouts prevented the Jackrabbits from tying the game.
SDSU squandered another golden opportunity in the eighth, when Grawe reached on an error and Luskey singled to put runners at the corners. The Jackrabbits then loaded the bases when Nate Wachter beat out a chopper to the left of the pitcher’s mound, but Grawe was unable to advance home. St. Thomas reliever Zak Endres then struck out the next three Jackrabbit batters to keep the Tommies in the lead.
UST put the game away with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Joe Roder led off with his fourth home run of the season and Easton Fritcher added a run-scoring single later in the frame.
Novotny and UST starter Nolan Kemp were locked in a pitchers’ duel as each allowed only one run through the first six innings. Maulik hit his second solo home run of the day for the Tommies’ first run of the game in the fourth while Grawe delivered a run-scoring single to drive in Carter Taylor for the lone SDSU run in the fifth inning. Both starters struck out five and walked three, while Endres tallied four strikeouts in earning the save.
Grawe and Jirschele both collected two hits for SDSU as both squads finished with seven hits. Maulik and Von Schlegell led the Tommies with two hits each.
ON DECK
The decisive game of the three-game series is slated for a noon first pitch on Saturday.
NOTES
- SDSU leads the all-time series, 15-7
- The Jackrabbits’ Game 1 victory marked their first win this season when being out-hit
- Franke’s three-hit performance in the opener was the second of his career
- Grawe extended his hitting streak to 12 games with his team-leading 13th double of the season in the opener and two singles in Game 2
- Wroblewski has scored 13 runs over the last seven games
- Taylor coaxed six walks in the doubleheader
- SDSU left 10 men on base in Game 2