Baseball

SDSU's season ends in loss to Sun Devils

LINCOLN, Neb. — A nightmare bottom of the fifth inning sealed South Dakota State's fate, ending the Jackrabbits' postseason run in the NCAA Regional with a 17-0 loss to a powerful Arizona State squad Saturday afternoon at Hawks Field.

SDSU ended its season with a 24-33 overall record, including an 0-2 mark in the Division I Baseball Championship. Arizona State improved to 38-20 overall and will face the loser of Saturday's late game between Nebraska and Ole Miss in another elimination game on Sunday.

The first half of the game featured a pitchers' duel as the Jackrabbits' Drew McDowell and ASU's Kole Klecker locked horns on the hill. McDowell allowed only a solo home run to Dean Toigo in the bottom of the first inning through his first four frames while Klecker struck out 10 and surrendered a single hit in his first five innings of work.

After playing a 14-inning game that ended after 1:15 a.m. Saturday morning, the Sun Devil bats awoke in the home half of the fifth, when they erupted for 11 runs and sent 15 batters to the plate against five different Jackrabbit hurlers. McDowell, who entered the inning having retired 10 of the 11 previous batters he had faced, exited after issuing a walk to Garrett Michel and allowing a single to Austen Roellig to open the bottom of the fifth. Each of the next two batters walked to force in the first run of the inning and Landon Hairston followed with a run-scoring single before Nu'u Contrades continued his hot hitting with an opposite-field grand slam for his third home run of the weekend.

Arizona State would tack on five more runs in the inning on RBI singles by Dominic Smaldino and Hairston, as well as bases-loaded walks to Roellig and Brody Briggs. Sam Novotny, the fifth and final Jackrabbit pitcher of the inning, finally settled things down out of the Jackrabbit bullpen as he recorded all three outs of the frame, with the first two coming on a double play.

The Sun Devils struck again for five runs in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by their second grand slam of the day. Roellig's blast into the Jackrabbit bullpen in right field pushed the ASU lead to 17-0.

SDSU mustered only three hits against Klecker, who struck out 13 and walked two in eight shutout frames. The right-hander fanned two batters in each of the first five innings and then struck out the side in the eighth inning around a double by Keagen Jirschele and a walk to pinch hitter Grant Sorensen.

Luke Jones (second inning) and Nic Werk (sixth inning) notched singles for the other two Jackrabbit hits.

For ASU, Roellig, Hairston and Dominic Longo each tallied two of the team's 11 hits. The Sun Devils also benefitted from 11 free passes issued by the Jackrabbit pitching staff — two hit batters and nine bases on balls.

NOTES
  • Saturday's game marked the first-ever meeting in baseball between South Dakota State and Arizona State
  • The Jackrabbits dropped to 0-4 in NCAA Division I postseason games in making their second regional appearance
  • Owen Siegert had his streak of 19 consecutive games reaching base safely come to an end
  • Senior pitchers Matthew Werk (seventh inning) and Jacob Sjuts (eighth inning) finished on the mound for SDSU with scoreless frames
#SUMMITBSB