BROOKINGS, S.D. – In a back-and-forth game throughout, South Dakota State found the answers in the late innings to come away with a 16-13 victory over St. Thomas in the opening game of a Summit League baseball series Friday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.
With their third win in a row, the Jackrabbits improved to 19-26 overall and 10-11 in league play. St. Thomas dropped to 9-35 overall and 6-15 in The Summit League.
SDSU scored three times in the bottom of the first inning, only to see the Tommies score the next 11runs in a row. All three of the Jackrabbits’ hits in the opening frame went for extra bases as Nolan Grawe doubled and scored on a triple to right field by Nate Wachter. Luke Luskey then followed with a two-run home run, his 11th round-tripper of the season.
St. Thomas was the beneficiary of a lost fly ball in the sun to get on the board in the top of the third. Nolan Welke reached on a two-out infield single before scoring on the misplay of a ball hit to left field by Tanner Recchio. Easton Fritcher followed with a triple to plate Recchio.
The Tommies grabbed their first lead with a three-run fourth inning off SDSU starter Sam Schlecht. Owen Bond led off with a triple and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Matthew Maulik. Welke, who was 3-for-4 in the game, delivered a two-run single to cap the scoring in the inning.
The fifth inning proved pivotal as the Jackrabbits countered a six-run outburst by St. Thomas with an eight-run frame of their own to tie the game at 11-all. Adam Puder, Zan Von Schlegell and Welke all notched two-run singles for the UST runs.
SDSU sent 12 men to the plate in the home half of the fifth, which started with an infield single by Luke Wroblewski. After a Grawe single, Luskey lined a single to right field to drive in Wroblewski with the first run. With the bases loaded and two outs, Luke Jones fouled off several pitches before working a 3-2 count and looping a long single down the right-field that cleared the bases to cut the deficit to 11-7.
After a pitching change, Wroblewski and Grawe each recorded their second hits of the inning to score two runs each. Wroblewski’s single to left field on another full count with the bases loaded brought home both Jones and Keagen Jirschele, while Grawe’s double just inside the first-base bag plated both Nic Werk and Wroblewski.
The Jackrabbits took a momentary lead in the bottom of the sixth, when Carter Taylor followed a leadoff walk to Luskey and a double by Dayton Franke with an RBI single to left.
St. Thomas regained the lead at 13-12 with a two-run single by Joe Roder in the seventh, but the Jackrabbits again responded in quick fashion in the home half of the inning. Werk opened the inning with a single to right center and the bases became loaded after Wroblewski walked and Grawe reached on a bunt single. Werk scored the tying run when Wachter reached on catcher’s interference and Luskey tallied his fourth and fifth RBIs on the day with a single up the middle for a 15-13 Jackrabbit advantage. Werk would add an RBI double in the eighth after a leadoff triple by Jirschele.
Reigning Summit League Peak Pitcher of the Week Ty Madison pitched a perfect eighth and Tristan Augedahl came on to neutralize the Tommies’ lineup dominated by left-handed batters with a 1-2-3 ninth that included a pair of strikeouts.
Hits were even at 17. All nine Jackrabbit starters recorded at least one hit as SDSU as Grawe went 4-for-6 and Luskey ended the day 3-for-4. For UST, Owen Bond and Fritcher also tallied three hits.
Madison was credited with the win after striking out three over 2 2/3 innings. Augedahl earned his team-leading fourth save of the season.
ON DECK
Game 2 of the series is set for a 3 p.m. start on Saturday. The six members of the Jackrabbit baseball senior class will be honored during pre-game ceremonies at approximately 2:40 p.m.
NOTES
- SDSU leads the season series, 3-1, and the all-time series, 17-7
- Luskey’s home run was the 33rd of his career, tying him with Jon Crow (1989-92) for seventh place on the SDSU all-time charts
- Luskey has 12 RBIs over his last two games to raise his season total to a Summit League-best 51
- Grawe notched his team-leading 16th multi-hit game of the season, including his second four-hit performance
- Two of Grawe’s hits were doubles, giving him 17 for the season to tie for 10th on the Jackrabbit single-season charts with Jesse Sawyer (2010)
- The Jackrabbits scored 16 runs for the second consecutive game and have tallied double digits in runs 14 times this season