ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Thomas pitchers Riane Ritter and Max Skilbeck combined for 10 strikeouts and limited South Dakota State to two hits as the league-leading Tommies claimed the decisive game of a three-game Summit League baseball series with a 5-1 victory Saturday afternoon at Koch Diamond.
St. Thomas ran its overall record to 19-14 overall and 13-4 in The Summit League. The Jackrabbits dropped to 8-26 overall and 5-11 in league play.
The Tommies got all the offense they would need in the first two innings. UST got on the board with an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning as Ben Vujovich singled and stole both second and third base, scoring on an errant throw on his steal of third.
UST loaded the bases the next inning on a hit, walk and hit batter to set up Max Moris, who notched a two-out single to center field to score both Tanner Recchio and Vujovich.
Riane Ritter carried a shutout into the sixth inning, when SDSU tallied its lone run on a home run to left by Luke Luskey. It was Luskey’s second home run of the series and league-leading 12th round-tripper of the season.
The Jackrabbits’ burst of momentum was short-lived, however, as St. Thomas responded with single runs in both the home half of the sixth and seventh innings. Zan Von Schlegell plated the sixth-inning run with a sacrifice fly and Matthew Maulik added a run-scoring single in the seventh after Vujovich created more havoc on the bases.
Vujovich tallied two hits, stole three bases and scored three runs while Brigs Richartz led the Tommies’ 10-hit effort with a 3-for-4 day at the plate.
Carter Sintek posted the only other Jackrabbit hit, a single in the third inning.
Ritter worked seven innings en route to the victory, striking out five and walking one. Skilbeck finished on the mound for the Tommies with five strikeouts in two hitless and scoreless frames.
For SDSU, starter Owen Bishop was assessed the loss after walking three and surrendering three runs in only 1 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked three. Reece Arbogast finished the second inning before giving way to Jake Goble, who pitched the final six frames. Goble struck out four and did not walk a batter in his longest outing of the season
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits return home for a 3 p.m. game Tuesday afternoon against Northwestern (Iowa) at Erv Huether Field.
NOTES
- St. Thomas claimed the regular season series, 4-2
- The Jackrabbits lead the all-time series, 14-6
- Luskey’s home run was the 20th of his career in 79 games over two seasons
- Sintek has hit safely in 28 of the 33 games he has played this season
- Goble has not walked a batter in any of his last four outings, covering 18 2/3 innings