Baseball

Jacks fall to Huskers in Regional opener

LINCOLN, Neb. — Baseball is a game of inches.

The old adage held true on multiple occasions in South Dakota State's opening round game of the NCAA Regional against Nebraska as the host Cornhuskers came away with a 4-1 victory Friday afternoon at a sold-out Hawks Field.

The No. 13 national seed, Nebraska improved to 43-15 overall. SDSU dropped to 24-32 overall and will face the loser of Friday's second contest between Ole Miss and Arizona State in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Neither squad could come up with a clutch hit in the early innings; the Jackrabbits left men in scoring position in two of the first three innings — including bouncing into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners in the third — and Nebraska put a man at second or third base in each of the first three frames only to have Jackrabbit starter Sam Schlecht work his way out of trouble.

Nebraska broke into the scoring column in the bottom of the fourth when Jett Buck opened the inning by lining a ball off the glove of Jackrabbit third baseman Nolan Grawe for a double. After a single by Joshua Overbeek put runners at the corners, Trey Fikes stroked a single off the tip of the glove of a leaping Nic Werk at second base to plate Buck with the first run of the game.

That brought an end to the day for Schlecht, who struck out three, walked one and hit two batters in three-plus innings of work. Relief ace Ty Madison surrendered an RBI groundout later in the bottom of the fourth before settling into a groove in the middle innings.

Cornhusker starter Carson Jasa put up a string of zeroes until tiring in what turned out to be a wild top of the seventh. Carter Taylor began the frame by being hit by a pitch and Dayton Franke followed with his second hit of the game to put runners at the corners with nobody out.  

Keagen Jirschele then stepped to the plate and dropped down a safety squeeze bunt that Jasa fielded in front of the mound and flipped to Fikes at the plate to easily retire Taylor at the plate.

After Nebraska closer J'Shawn Unger relieved Jasa mid at-bat to Werk with a 2-0 count, Werk lined a full-count pitch to left field for a single. On the play, Buck threw home and clipped a sliding Franke at the plate on a bang-bang play for the second out at home in the inning.

The Jackrabbits were able to plate a run in the inning on a single by Owen Siegert that brought home Jirschele. SDSU loaded the bases on a walk to Grawe, but Unger ended the threat with a strikeout of Nate Wachter.

Unger would go on to retire the side in order in both the eighth and ninth innings to notch his 13th save of the season, and the Cornhuskers tallied a pair of insurance runs in the home half of the eighth on solo home runs by Dylan Carey and Buck.

Carey was 3-for-3 to lead Nebraska's nine-hit attack. Franke and Wachter each posted two of SDSU's seven hits.

Jasa struck out eight and walked two over 6 1/3 innings to improve to 10-2 on the season.

Madison logged five innings in relief for SDSU, striking out two and walking one in a return to his home state.

NOTES
  • Nebraska leads the all-time series, 20-4, and has won both meetings against the Jackrabbits this season
  • SDSU dropped to 0-3 in NCAA Division I tournament games, with the three contests decided by a total of five runs
  • Siegert reached base safely for the 19th consecutive game
  • Wachter recorded his 16th multi-hit game of the season and Franked tallied multiple hits for the 11th time in 2026
  • The Jackrabbits turned a season-high three double plays in a game for the fourth time this season
  • Carey is 8-for-8 at the plate against the Jackrabbits in two games this season
  • Attendance was 7,828
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