Dylan Richey pitched five shutout frames and South Dakota State put together its second six-run inning of the series en route to a 10-2, series-clinching victory over Northern Colorado Sunday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.
In winning the series two games to one, the Jackrabbits improved to 14-29 overall and 10-13 in The Summit League. UNC fell to 17-28 and 8-16 in league play.
After playing from behind in each of the first two games of the series, it was SDSU that got out to an early lead on Sunday. Nolan Grawe started a two-run rally with a double to left-center field, moved to third on a base hit by Bryce Ronken and scored on a sacrifice fly by Owen Siegert. Ronken later scored on a single by Adam Benes.
The Jackrabbit lead grew to 4-0 with single runs in the third and fourth innings. Carter Sintek continued his hot hitting with a home run to lead off the bottom of the third while Jess Bellows doubled and scored on a hit by Keagen Jirschele an inning later.
Richey, who was making his first start in a Summit League game, was efficient in the longest outing of his Jackrabbit career. The right-hander needed only 57 pitches to complete five innings as he allowed only three hits and walked one.
UNC ended a streak of 13 consecutive scoreless innings with a run against Jackrabbit reliever Alex Clemons in the sixth inning. Carter Monda led off with a single and moved up on two wild pitches before scoring on Jake King’s single through the right side. King, along with Ethan Mooser and Anthony Stellato, collected two of the Bears’ seven hits.
SDSU ended any hopes of a comeback by the Bears with a six-run bottom of the seventh. After a leadoff walk to Nicholas Werk and a single by Sintek put runners at the corners, Grawe hit a sharp one-hopper to second base that was fielded, but the ensuing throw to the shortstop to attempt to start a double play was off that mark and allowed both Werk and Sintek to score on the play. Ronken then followed with an RBI double and Siegert added a run-scoring single before Benes launched a two-run home run over the fence in left-center field.
Tristan Augedahl pitched two shutout innings before UNC scored an unearned run in the ninth.
Sintek was 3-for-5 to lead SDSU’s 13-hit effort, finishing a double away from the cycle. Eight different players recorded at least one hit with Ronken, Siegert and Benes each tallying two hits.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits travel to Omaha for a three-game weekend series May 9-11. Friday’s series opener is set for a 6 p.m. first pitch at Tal Anderson Field.
NOTES
- The season series finished tied 3-3
- SDSU leads the all-time series, 43-37
- The Jackrabbits improved to 11-5 at Erv Huether Field this season
- Richey’s previous long outing as a Jackrabbits was 3 2/3 innings at Utah Tech on March 4, 2023
- Sintek finished the series 9-for-14 (.643) with three RBIs and six runs scored
- Sintek extended his hitting streak to seven games and now has a team-leading 19 multi-hit games
- Ronken has reached base safely in 22 consecutive games
- Of Benes’ 20 RBIs this season, 19 have come in home games
- Clemons and Augedahl each made their second appearances of the series in Sunday’s game
- Jackrabbit pitchers combined to allow only one extra-base hit to UNC in the series, while SDSU accounted for 16 extra-base hits (10 doubles, 1 triple, 5 home runs)