MINNEAPOLIS -- No. 4 seed South Dakota State stunned top-seeded Oral Roberts 7-3 in the opening game of the 2026 Baseball Championship at Siebert Field. For the Jackrabbits, it was the program's first win over the Golden Eagles in 20 postseason tries as starter Sam Schlecht delivered a quality start and the offense prodcued 12 hits, including three in a pivotal four-run sixth inning in the upset victory.
Oral Roberts, who is seeking their 23rd tournament title after wrapping up the program's 22nd regular season trophy, took the early lead after Summit League Defensive Player of the Year Martell Davis turned a nifty double play in the second and put the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard with a solo blast to left field in the bottom half of the frame that made it 1-0.
SDSU would take its first lead of the game in the fourth after scoring a pair of runs off ORU starter Easton Teel. Designated hitter Luke Luskey belted his 13th home run of the season to leadoff the frame. Shortstop Kiegan Jirschele then put the Jacks in the lead after laying down a bunt down the first base line, that resulted in a single and scored Luke Jones from third.
Schlecht was dialed in from the start, retiring the first Golden Eagle of the first six innings, which included five via the strikeout.
His offense provided a little more cushion to work with in the sixth when the Jacks' bats tacked on four more runs to extend the lead to 6-1. Owen Siegert opened the scoring in the frame with a two-run single. Nolan Grawe followed with an RBI-single and Nate Wachter capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly.
Schlecht would retired nine in a row before Ethan Fender delivered a two-out single in the seventh, but the righthander followed by equaling his season-high with his eighth strike out of the game, getting Kole Dudding swinging to end the seventh. Luskey would add an RBI-groundout in the eighht to give SDSU an insurance run, pushing the lead to 7-1.
Summit League Player of the Year Makani Tanaka reclaimed the home run lead among conference players with a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole to trim ORU's deficit to 7-3 and chase Schlecht from the game but that would be as close as ORU would get. Ty Madison tossed 1.2 innings of hitless relief to snap SDSU's 15-game overall losing skid to the Golden Eagles.
Pitcher of Record
Win – Schlecht (4-3): 7.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts
Loss – Teel (4-3): 5.0 IP, 6 hits, 3 earned run, 4 walk, 1 strikeout
Notable Notes
• ORU is now 19-1 all-time against South Dakota State in tournament play
• The loss for ORU marked the first time in 25 Summit League Tournaments that the Golden Eagles have opened with a setback
• Luskey's fourth-inning home run was his 13th of the season, equaling Tanaka for the overall league lead in the category for four innings
• Tanaka's eighth-inning home run was his 14th of the season
• SDSU starter Sam Schlecht tossed a season-high 7.1 innings and equaled his season-high with eight strikeouts
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Up Next
South Dakota State will play the winner of the contest between No. 2 seed Omaha and No. 3 seed Northern Colorado on Thursday at 6 CT, while the Golden Eagles will play the loser of that contest earlier in the day with first pitch slated for 12 p.m. CT.
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