SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – South Dakota State crept within a game of second place in the Summit League standings after a series win at St. Thomas last weekend as the Jackrabbits’ offense continued to pile up runs. SDSU has scored double-digit runs in five of its six Summit wins this season.

The Jacks were able to get a little closer after league-leading Oral Roberts won a series at Omaha in a battle between the top two teams in the standings. The Mavericks salvaged the finale thanks to a walk-off homer from Drew Borner but the Golden Eagles were able to stretch their lead in the standings to four games.
 
Northern Colorado won its second series of the league campaign, improving to 6-8 to stay in fourth as teams trekked toward the halfway point. Mother Nature has not been overly cooperative this spring as the 14 conference games played the Bears are the most among Summit squads.

At this point, the regular season title will be decided by win percentage as teams will not be able to make-up all games that have been lost.

The Omaha-North Dakota State series this weekend has already been shortened with just a Sunday doubleheader remains on the schedule.

The Bison have played just nine league games and have had two series cancelled with one of those games being made up in what will now be four-game series at Oral Roberts (April 24-26) and St. Thomas (May 14-16).

AROUND THE LEAGUE
• South Dakota State moved to the .500 mark in Summit play for the first time this season thanks to a series win at St. Thomas.
• The Jacks’ offense was the first to 100 runs in league play, reaching that after putting up double-digit runs for the fifth time in six Summit victories in the 13-2 win in the finale vs. St. Thomas.
• SDSU first baseman Luke Luskey leads all Summit League players with 31 RBI overall and 17 RBI in conference play. He had three in the Jacks’ 7-2 in the opener at St. Thomas.
• SDSU third baseman Nolan Grawe extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a 6-for-19 (.316) effort at the plate across four games last week. Grawe leads all Summit League players with 13 doubles and is hitting .326 overall and .340 in Summit action. He ranks second in total RBI with 30 behind Luskey.
• St. Thomas righthander Nolan Kemp quieted the Jackrabbits’ bats in his first start of the season, limiting SDSU to four hits and allowing just one earned run in the Tommies’ 4-1 victory in game two. He struck out a season-high five in what was his longest start since his freshman season vs. Western Illinois in 2023.
• After dropping game one to NDSU, Northern Colorado rallied for an 11-10 extra-inning victory in game two before taking the series with a 10-5 win in the finale.
• Senior outfielder Jaden Stone earned Kwik Star Peak Performer of the Week honors after batting .615 against the Bison and scoring five runs for the Bears who improved to 6-8 in league play. The series win was UNC’s second of the season.
• Stone pushed his season total to 17-multi hit games with three against the Bison and now leads all Summit players with 49 hits overall and 23 in Summit tilts. Stone is also second in runs (14) and third in batting average (.390) against conference foes.
• Jake Bullard delivered the walk-off single to lift the Bears to the 11-10 victory in game two. Redshirt freshman Wilson Keiffer went 4-for-5 in the finale, while Brandon Sanchez added three hits and capped the scoring with a three-run homer in the eighth to extend the Bears’ lead to five.
• NDSU’s Colten Becker homered twice during the UNC series and his four long balls in conference play top all league players. He squared the opening game at 3-3 with a solo blast in the eighth inning and Bennett Freiter won it for the Bison with his own solo shot in the top of the ninth.
• Oral Roberts took two of three at Omaha in a series pitting the top two teams in the Summit League. The Golden Eagles outscored the Mavericks 22-1 in the first two games before Omaha salvaged game three and dealt ORU its first league loss of the season in dramatic fashion with an 8-7 win in 12 innings.
• ORU righthander Easton Teel continued his torrid start to league play. He logged seven scoreless innings in a 9-0 game-one victory to post his fourth straight quality start and earn his third Kwik Star pitching nod in the past four weeks.
• Teel has now surrendered just two earned runs over 27 innings of work in four Summit starts (0.65). His 2.11 ERA in overall action has the sophomore ranked among the top 35 in the country.
• In game two, Nathan Love allowed one earned on three hits over six innings to improve to 3-1 on the season. The ORU bats were quiet early but scored 12 runs after the fifth inning as five different Golden Eagles had two RBi in the contest, including Cooper Kelly, who went 4-for-6 at the dish and opened the scoring in the first with an RBI single.
• In a back-and-forth tilt in the finale, ORU took a 7-6 lead in the 12th inning after Hudson Ellis drew a bases loaded walk, but the Mavericks would get back-to-back home runs in their half of the frame. 
• Cardell Dick tied things up at 7-7 with his fifth home run of the campaign before  Drew Borner walked it off for Omaha with his first of the season. The win kept Omaha above the .500 mark in league play at 7-5.
• Oral Roberts ranks fourth nationally in fielding percentage with a .985 clip having committed only 18 errors in 34 games.

UPCOMING
Game | Stream/TV | Local Time
Friday, April 17
St. Thomas vs. Northern Colorado* | SLN | 12 p.m. CT
Northern Colorado at St. Thomas | SLN | 3 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at SDSU | SLN | 3 p.m. CT

Saturday, April 18
Northern Colorado at St. Thomas | SLN | 1 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at SDSU | SLN | 2 p.m. CT
 
Sunday, April 19
Northern Colorado at St. Thomas | SLN | 1 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at SDSU | SLN | 1 p.m. CT
Omaha at NDSU (DH) | SLN | 1 p.m. CT
 
Tuesday, April 21
St. Thomas at Milwaukee | 3 p.m. CT
NDSU at Minnesota | B1G+ | 6 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at Oklahoma | SEC+ | 6:30 p.m. CT
 
Wednesday, April 22
Briar Cliff at SDSU | SLN | 3 p.m. CT
St. Thomas at Northwestern | B1G+ | 3:30 p.m. CT
Creighton at Omaha | SLN | 6 p.m. CT
 
Key: B1G+ (Big Ten Plus); ESPN+ (ESPN Plus); MWN (Mountain West Network); SEC+ (SEC Network Plus); SLN (Summit League Network).

RESULTS
Friday, April 10
SDSU 7, St. Thomas 2
St. Thomas 4, SDSU 1
NDSU 4, Northern Colorado 3
Oral Roberts 9, Omaha 0

Saturday, April 11
SDSU 13, St. Thomas 2
Northern Colorado 11, NDSU 10 (10)
Oral Roberts 13, Omaha 1

Sunday, April 12
Northern Colorado 10, NDSU 5
Omaha 8, Oral Roberts 7 (12)

Tuesday, April 14
Omaha 12, K-State 5
SDSU 13, Midland 3 (7)
Minnesota 24, St. Thomas 2
Central Arkansas 5, Oral Roberts 3

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