Jacks stay alive with 8-0 win over Omaha

Thursday, May 26

Tulsa, Okla.

12:00 PM

South Dakota State University

22-34

University of Nebraska at Omaha

28-28

Omaha

South Dakota State

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

5/26/2016 4:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. – Landon Busch and Will McAffer combined on a four-hit shutout and Luke Ringhofer provided early offense with three runs batted in as the South Dakota State baseball team stayed alive at the Summit League Baseball Championship with an 8-0 victory over Omaha Thursday afternoon at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The fourth-seeded Jackrabbits improved to 22-34 overall and will face Oral Roberts in another elimination game at 6 p.m. Friday. Fort Wayne scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to defeat top-seeded ORU, 6-5, in Thursday's late game to advance to Saturday's title game(s).

Omaha, the second-seeded team in the tournament, had its season end with a 28-28 overall record.

Omaha threatened to score in each of the first two innings, but Busch and the Jackrabbits worked their way out of each jam. In the first, the Mavericks placed runners at second and third with one out and Ryan Cate at the plate. Cate lifted a fly ball down the right-field line, which was caught by Skyler Wenninger, who then threw a strike home to cut down Clayton Taylor to complete a double play.

The Mavericks loaded the bases with in the second, but Busch induced a flyout by Taylor to end the frame.

Meanwhile, the Jackrabbits tallied a first-inning run and added three more in the second. Tony Kjolsing led off the SDSU first by reaching on a two-base outfield error and scored on a single to left by Ringhofer, who extended his school-record streak of reaching base safely to 48 games.

In the second inning, Omaha's failure to complete a double play on a grounder by Kjolsing allowed Phil Velez to score. Ringhofer followed two batters later with a double to the left-field corner that plated both Wenninger and Paul Jacobson.

Busch left for precautionary measures with discomfort in his arm after walking the leadoff batter in the top of the fourth. McAffer entered and shut down the Mavericks over the final six innings in facing the minimum. The freshman right-hander from North Vancouver, British Columbia, allowed only one hit – a fifth-inning single by Cole Gruber, who was then promptly picked off first base. McAffer struck out three en route to his second win of the season.

SDSU tacked on single runs in the fourth and sixth innings to push the lead to 6-0. Wenninger led off the fourth with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jacobson, while Phil Velez connected on his first home run of the season to lead off the sixth.

Velez, who was 3-for-3 to lead the Jackrabbits' 10-hit attack, added a run-scoring single in the seventh and Cody Sharrow tacked on an RBI single to plate the final run.

Ringhofer and Wenninger each tallied two hits for SDSU, while Gruber collected two of the Mavericks' four hits.

NOTES: Thursday's game marked the first meeting between SDSU and Omaha at the Summit League Baseball Championship … Omaha leads the all-time series, 80-68-1 the Jackrabbits last win by shutout was a 15-0, seven-inning blanking of Fort Wayn on May 15, 2015 … Wenninger was making only his fifth start of the season in right field … Ringhofer posted his team-leading 19th multi-hit game of the season, while Velez notched his 17th … McAffer's six-inning outing was his longest of the season … Ryan Froom is the scheduled starter for Friday

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 8, OMAHA 0
UNO 000 000 000 0-4-2
SDSU 130 101 20X 8-10-0
UNO: Sam Murphy, Shane Meltz (5), Robert Calvano (7), Brett Sasse (8), David Flattery (8) and Collin Leif. SDSU: Landon Busch, Will McAffer (4) and Luke Ringhofer.
W-McAffer (2-0). L-Murphy (4-6). Save-none.
HR: SDSU-Phil Velez (1).