JACKS OPEN SPRING BREAK TRIP IN WICHITA

Friday, March 11

Wichita, Kan.

3 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Wichita State

Photo by: Erik Williams

3/10/2022 4:47:00 PM | Baseball

GAMES 12-14: South Dakota State (3-8) at Wichita State (6-7)

When	Friday-Sunday, March 11-13 3 p.m. Friday \| 2 p.m. Saturday \| 1 p.m. Sunday
Where	Eck Stadium \| Wichita, Kansas
TV	ESPN+ \| Game 1 \| Game 2 \| Game 3
Radio	GoShockers.com
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Wichita State \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #RAB5

After splitting four games last week in two different cities, the South Dakota State baseball team returns to action with a three-game weekend series at Wichita State.

Friday's series opener is set for 3 p.m. at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kansas. Saturday's middle game of the series is slated for 2 p.m., with Sunday's series finale scheduled for a 1 p.m first pitch.

The Jackrabbits enter the series with a 3-8 overall record. SDSU notched a 7-5 victory at Minnesota on March 2, then won the final game of an abbreviated series March 4-5 at Central Arkansas. The fourth and final game of the series at Central Arkansas was canceled due to inclement weather, as was the Jackrabbits' game set for Wednesday (March 9) at Creighton.

Wichita State comes into its home-opening series with a 6-7 overall record. The Shockers, who are on a four-game winning streak, will be playing their second Summit League opponent in a row after recording a 6-4 victory at Oral Roberts on Tuesday.

THE SERIES: Friday's game against Wichita State will mark the seventh meeting on the baseball diamond between the Jackrabbits and Shockers in a series that dates back to the 1981 season.

Wichita State has won all six previous matchups, which have all been played on the Shockers' home field, including sweeping a five-game series in 1981.

The two programs wouldn't meet again until May 9, 2018, when Wichita State recorded a 10-0 victory. In that game, Wichita State scored three times in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back. Gunnar Troutwine singled in the first two runs, while the third run of the frame scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Mason O'Brien.

The Shockers increased their lead to 7-0 with a four-run third inning. Greyson Jenista connected on his eighth home run of the season to plate the first two runs and WSU again excelled in the situational-hitting department as O'Brien and Ross Cadena recorded back-to-back sacrifice flies. Jenista added a run-scoring double in the fifth inning to up the Wichita State lead to 8-0.

Wichita State starter Jacob Lindemann struck out three and walked two in three shutout innings. Liam Eddy followed with three shutout frames, while three other Shocker hurlers each blanked the Jackrabbits for one inning.

SHORT HOPS: Following are some quick notes coming away from the last week of Jackrabbit games:

The Jackrabbits have played errorless baseball in three of their last four games.
Outfielder Jess Bellows and infielder Cade Stuff both remain sidelined by recent injuries.
Luke Ira has extended his streak of consecutive games started to 80, which dates back to late in the 2019 season. Ira has made 59 straight starts and a total of 61 starts at shortstop during his current streak, while also starting 17 games at second base and two at third base.
Ira batted .615 (8-for-13) in the three-game series at Central Arkansas, posting a pair of three-hit games and a two-hit contest. He also posted a 1.000 slugging percentage with a home run and two doubles among his eight hits.
SDSU was held scoreless in the final 15 innings of its Feb. 25 doubleheader at Incarnate Word, but broke out of the gates in its next game, March 2 at Minnesota, with five runs in the first inning, highlighted by a three-run home run by Drew Beazley. That outburst matched the most runs scored by the Jackrabbits in the initial inning of a game under head coach Rob Bishop (since 2017). SDSU previously scored five times in the first inning four times, including the aforementioned May 20, 2021 game versus Oral Roberts.
The Jackrabbits again scored five runs in the first inning of the second game of a March 5 twinbill at Central Arkansas. Two-run doubles by Derek Hackman and Jordan Sagedahl were followed by an RBI double from Reece Anderson.
SDSU left-hander Cody Carlson recorded 14 consecutive Central Arkansas batters in one stretch during the first game of the March 5 doubleheader.
Four freshman pitchers — Dane Toman, Reece Arbogast, Joe Husak and Alex Clemons — combined to throw the first seven innings of the March 2 victory at Minnesota. Arbogast was credited with the win after tossing two shutout innings.
Another freshman, Jake Goble, picked up the win after tossing three shutout innings of relief in the Jackrabbits' March 5 win at Central Arkansas.

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State has been picked to finish fourth in the 2022 Summit League baseball race, according to a poll conducted among the league's seven coaches that was announced in February.

Defending regular season champion Oral Roberts grabbed the top spot in the poll with six first-place votes and 36 points, followed by 2021 tournament champion North Dakota State with 31 points and one first-place vote.

Omaha edged the Jackrabbits for third place by one point, 24-23, while new affiliate member Northern Colorado placed fifth with 13 points. Western Illinois (12 points) and Summit League newcomer St. Thomas (8 points) rounded out the poll.

The top four teams will advance to the Summit League Baseball Championship May 25-28 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. SDSU has qualified for the league tournament in 11 of 12 seasons it has been eligible for postseason play.

In addition, infielder Luke Ira was named as a Summit League Player to Watch and redshirt sophomore right-hander Nic McCay was tabbed as a Summit League Pitcher to Watch.

A junior from Iowa City, Iowa, Ira took over starting duties at shortstop last season and led the team with 48 hits and 11 doubles while starting all 47 games. Ira contributed three home runs and also ranked second on the squad with a .268 batting average and 23 RBIs.

McCay makes a return to the Jackrabbits' starting rotation after sitting out the past two seasons due to injury. A?native of Carlisle, Iowa, McCay was a Freshman All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball in 2019 after compiling a 6-1 record with a 4.08 earned run average in 14 starts. He struck out 83 batters in 79 1/3 innings that season.

HACKMAN LEADS OFFENSE EARLY ON: South Dakota State catcher Derek Hackman has carried the Jackrabbit offense in the early going of the 2022 season.

A senior from Johnston, Iowa, Hackman leads the team with a .424 batting average (14-for-33) through 11 games. Hackman recorded his third three-hit game of the season with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate in the second game of a March 5 doubleheader at Central Arkansas and has reached base safely in all 11 games this season.

Hackman tied a single-game career high with four runs batted in against Incarnate Word in the Feb. 24 series opener. He leads the team with 13 RBIs, as well as a .636 slugging percentage and a .553 on-base percentage.

In 2021, Hackman was a second-team all-Summit League selection after posting team highs with a .319 batting average, eight home runs and 31 runs scored.

BOURASSA CONTINUES RECORD PACE: Junior right-hander Ryan Bourassa picked up where he left off in the strikeout department as he made his 2022 season debut in the series finale against Purdue on Feb. 20.

In four innings of relief, Bourassa struck out seven and allowed only one run in keeping the Jackrabbits in the game. He followed that with a four-inning save in the first game of a Feb. 25 doubleheader at Incarnate Word in which he tallied for more strikeouts.

Thus far during the 2022 season, , Bourassa has tallied 16 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings over three appearances. Each of his appearances have covered at least 3 1/3 innings.

A native of West Fargo, North Dakota, Bourassa began the 2021 campaign in the starting rotation, but made a seamless transition to the bullpen midway through the year and responded by striking out 65 batters in only 42 1/3 innings to set an SDSU single-season record with an average of 13.82 K's per nine innings pitched.

BARNETT, TOO: Senior left-hander Bret Barnett also has displayed big-time strikeout ability during his Jackrabbit career, recording an average of well over a strikeout an inning. After striking out 13 batters and walking only one in a combined seven innings of relief over four appearances so far this season, the native of Indianola, Iowa, has notched 114 strikeouts in 88 1/3 career innings for a ratio of 11.62 strikeouts per nine innings that currently ranks as the highest in program history.

In his March 2 outing at Minnesota, Barnett retired the side in order — with a a strikeout — in the ninth inning to earn the save in a 7-5 Jackrabbit victory. The save was Barnett's first of the season and 12th of his career, tying him in the latter category for fourth place in program history with Chris Halbur (12 saves from 2016-17).

He followed that performance with five strikeouts in only two innings as he closed out the Jackrabbits' 9-1 victory in Game 2 of a March 5 doubleheader at Central Arkansas.

Barnett is currently replicating the dominance he displayed during an all-league 2019 season in which he posted a 5-1 record and seven saves, while turning in a 1.31 ERA over 20 relief appearances. Last season, Barnett tallied a pair of saves and struck out 36 batters in 24 1/3 innings en route to a 1-2 mark.

COACH BISHOP: Rob Bishop, who has guided college baseball teams to more than 600 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.

Through five-plus seasons with the Jackrabbits, Bishop holds a 95-130 record at SDSU, including a 60-54 mark in Summit League regular season games.

In his first season, Bishop's 2017 squad returned to the winning side of the ledger with a 26-24 overall mark, including an 18-12 record for a third-place finish in The Summit League standings. SDSU won its opening-round game in the Summit League Baseball Championship, 6-5, over second-seeded North Dakota State.

In 2018, SDSU overcame a slow start to post a winning record in Summit League play at 14-13 and went on to reach the title game of the Summit League Baseball Championship. The Jackrabbits finished with an 18-32 overall record during a campaign in which they played only six home games.

SDSU bounced back in 2019, posting a 28-22 overall record that included a second-place mark of 19-10 in Summit League play. The Jackrabbits won or split nine of the 10 league series in regular season play en route to making an appearance in the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship for the 10th time in 11 years.

The 2020 season was canceled just before the start of Summit League play, with SDSU posting a 5-12 record in the first month of the season. The Jackrabbits recorded wins at Minnesota, Air Force and Kansas State the final week of the pandemic-shortened campaign.

When play resumed in the spring of 2021, the Jackrabbits posted a 15-32 overall record and suffered their first losing season in league play since 2016, but managed to earn the fourth and final spot in the Summit League Baseball Championship. In the conference tournament, the Jacks staved off elimination with a shutout victory over host Omaha before falling in 11 innings to regular season champion Oral Roberts.

Overall, Bishop holds a 644-452-1 record (.588 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach. He earned his 600th career victory in the Jackrabbits' 8-6 victory at UA Little Rock on March 10, 2019.

Individually, Jackrabbit players have been honored as all-Summit League performers 20 times during Bishop's tenure, including eight all-league selections in 2019. Utility player Nick Smith was honored for the third consecutive season, while shortstop Gus Steiger and starting pitcher Tyler Olmstead were repeat selections in 2019.

In addition, Bishop has mentored a handful of Jackrabbit players who have pursued professional careers. Catcher Luke Ringhofer was selected in the 22nd round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles and relief pitcher Chris Halbur was offered a free agent contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers after Bishop's first season in Brookings. Shortstop Gus Steiger signed with the Cincinnati Reds following an abbreviated 2020 MLB Draft. In 2019, left-handed pitcher Brady Stover was a 31st-round pick of the Washington Nationals, but opted to return to the Jackrabbits for his senior season.

Prior to becoming head coach at SDSU, Bishop 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.

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. Bishop's teams won at least 30 games in all 10 seasons, including four with 40 wins. He ended his tenure at Miles City with a 377-151 overall record.

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 with a 38-18 record.

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

THE ROSTER: The 2021 SDSU baseball roster features 35 players from nine different states. Of the 35 players, 10 are from Iowa, nine are from South Dakota and seven hail from Minnesota. Two players are from Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota, while Colorado, Utah and Washington are represented by one player each.

By class, two are graduate students, three are seniors, nine are juniors, nine are sophomores and 11 are freshmen (three returning, eight incoming).

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits will move on to play a four-game series March 17-19 at Northwestern State (La.). The series is opener is set for a 6 p.m. start March 17 at Brown-Stroud Field in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

-GoJacks.com-