Jacks to play three with Bradley

Friday, February 23

Edwardsville, Ill.

11 a.m.

South Dakota State University

Bradley

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia Sports Media

2/22/2018 9:46:00 AM | Baseball

GAMES 4-6: South Dakota State (0-3) vs. Bradley (2-1)

When	Friday, Feb. 23 • 11 a.m. Central Time [Doubleheader] \| Saturday, Feb. 24 • TBA
Where	Simmons Complex \| Edwardsville, Illinois
TV	None
Radio	None
Live Stats	Click Here
Series Notes	South Dakota State \| Bradley
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #EarnIt

For the second week in a row, the South Dakota State University baseball team will say, "Meet me in (or near) St. Louis" after having its travel plans changed due to unfavorable forecasts and field conditions.

Instead of traveling to Nacogdoches, Texas, for four games this weekend, the Jackrabbits are now slated to play a three-game series against Bradley in Edwardsville, Illinois, Friday and Saturday. The series is slated to begin with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Friday at the Simmons Complex on the SIU Edwardsville campus, with a single game Saturday at a time to be determined. SDSU was scheduled to play Bradley in the opening game of the weekend set in Nacogdoches.

Last weekend, SDSU dropped three games versus Austin Peay and Illinois after having its original series at Mississippi Valley State canceled. Bradley won two of its three games last weekend at the Atlanta Challenge, dropping its opener to Georgia State before recording wins over Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State.

Check GoJacks.com and Twitter (@GoJacksBaseball) for further updates.

THE SERIES: This weekend's games between South Dakota State and Bradley will mark the first time the two squads have met on the baseball diamond.

PRESEASON POLL: The Jackrabbit baseball team has been picked to finish second in the upcoming Summit League race, according to a poll of league coaches released Feb. 8.

SDSU received 20 points and one first-place vote, finishing behind defending champion Oral Roberts, which received the other five first-place votes and 25 total points. North Dakota State completed the top half of the poll with 17 points.

Rounding out the second half of the poll were Western Illinois (14 points), Omaha (9) and Fort Wayne (5).

The Jackrabbits, who return six position starters, are scheduled to open Summit League play March 16, when they open a three-game series at Oral Roberts. The 2018 Summit League Baseball Championship is slated for May 23-26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In addition, SDSU shortstop Tony Kjolsing was selected as a Summit League Player to Watch. A senior from Chaska, Minnesota, Kjolsing batted .291 with four home runs and 21 runs batted in while playing in 32 games during the 2017 season.

LAST WEEK: The Jackrabbits opened the season had their season-opening weekend series altered by weather, playing neutral-site games against Austin Peay and Illinois instead of making their originally scheduled trip to Mississippi Valley State.

SDSU fell by scores of 4-2 and 9-3 to Austin Peay, while dropping the weekend finale to Illinois, 5-2.

Game 1 Recap
Game 2 Recap
Game 3 Recap

HOT START: Outfielder Landon Badger has excelled on Opening Day in each of his two seasons with the Jackrabbits. Both of Badger's career three-hit games have come in a season opener — he was 3-for-5 with two doubles and three runs batted in during his collegiate debut against Northern Illinois in the 2017 season opener, then went 3-for-4 in the 2018 opener against Austin Peay.

NEW ARMS: Seven Jackrabbit pitchers made their SDSU debuts on the opening weekend of play in Missouri and Illinois. Brady Moxham and Korey Kuhlmann each started games for SDSU, while Otis Roby, Austin Suhr, Alex Marro, Bryce Johnson and Mitchell Oehme made appearances in relief.

COACH BISHOP: Rob Bishop, who has guided college baseball teams to more than 500 victories, was named head baseball coach at South Dakota State University on Aug. 1, 2016. Bishop is the ninth head coach in program history and the fourth in the Division I era of Jackrabbit baseball.

Overall, Bishop holds a 575-349-1 record (.622 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach, including a 26-27 mark with the Jackrabbits. He led SDSU to a 26-24 record in 2017 as the Jackrabbits placed third in The Summit League with an 18-12 league record and made their eighth appearance in the league's postseason tournament in nine seasons.

Prior to coming to SDSU, he spent six years at NCAA Division II member Montana State University-Billings, where he led the Yellowjackets to back-to-back Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season titles in 2015 and 2016, attaining the program's first-ever 30-win season with a 30-20 record in 2016.

His squads also were honored as the top academic team in the GNAC each of his last three seasons.

Previously, Bishop spent 10 years at Miles City Community College in Montana, where his teams won MonDak conference championships every year. His squads also claimed five consecutive junior college region titles and a Northwest District championship in 2007 to advance to the NJCAA Division II College World Series. He also served as athletic director the last five years of his tenure at Miles City.

Bishop served as a graduate assistant at SDSU under head coach Mark Ekeland during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In his first season as a head coach, Bishop led Huron University to the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference title in 2000.

A 1994 graduate of Jamestown College, Bishop earned NAIA All-America honors during the 1992 and 1994 seasons as an infielder.

THE ROSTER: The 2018 SDSU baseball roster features 33 players from six different states and one Canadian provinice. Of the 33 players, 12 are from South Dakota, 10 are from Iowa and seven hail from Minnesota. Arizona, Washington and Wisconsin are represented by one player each, as is Manitoba.

By class, seven are seniors, 11 are juniors, eight are sophomores and seven are incoming freshmen.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to play their first midweek game of the season, traveling Feb. 28 to Minneapolis for a game against Minnesota at U.S. Bank Stadium. Game time is set for 6 p.m.

From there, SDSU will embark on its Spring Break trip, opening with a three-game series March 2-4 at Southeast Missouri State.

-GoJacks.com-