JACKS BEGIN BIG TEN WEEK WITH TILT AT NEBRASKA

Wednesday, March 4

Lincoln, Neb.

1:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Nebraska

Photo by: SDSU Athletics

3/3/2026 8:30:00 PM | Baseball

South Dakota State (4-7) at Nebraska (6-5)

When	1:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where	Hawks Field \| Lincoln, Nebraska
TV	Big Ten Plus
Radio	Huskers.com
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Nebraska \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

The South Dakota State baseball team begins a stretch of three consecutive games against Big Ten Conference opponents Wednesday afternoon, when the Jackrabbits pay a visit to Nebraska.

Game time is set for 1:30 p.m. at Hawks Field in Lincoln, Nebraska. Video coverage will be available through the Big Ten Plus streaming platform (subscription required).

SDSU enters the week with a 4-7 overall record after winning one of three games this past weekend in a series at Central Arkansas. The Jackrabbits are in the midst of playing their first 21 games of the season away from home.

Nebraska, meanwhile, will be facing its second Summit League opponent of the week. The Cornhuskers improved to 6-5 overall after defeating Omaha, 8-5, on Tuesday afternoon. Last weekend, Nebraska won a 9-8, 10-inning decision to open a three-game series at seventh-ranked Auburn, before falling by scores of 15-4 and 12-3 to close out the three-game set.

After Wednesday's game, the Jackrabbits are scheduled to travel to the Cambria Classic in Minneapolis, where they will face Big Ten opponents Northwestern and host Minnesota over the weekend.

Updates of Jackrabbit baseball will be available throughout the week via X/Twitter (@GoJacksBaseball) and through GoJacks.com.

THE SERIES: Wednesday's game will mark the 23rd meeting on the baseball diamond between South Dakota State and Nebraska in a series that dates back to an 18-13 victory by the Cornhuskers on April 3, 1959.

Nebraska holds an 18-4 advantage in the series, although the Jackrabbits have won the last two meetings. SDSU ended a 13-game losing streak to the Huskers with an 8-3 road victory behind 5 2/3 shutout innings from Will Kent on April 26, 2023, at Hawks Field, which was SDSU's first win in the series since a 10-5 triumph in 1971.

The Jackrabbits followed the 2023 victory with a 10-6, come-from-behind victory in Lincoln on May 8, 2024.

Trailing 6-2 through seven innings, Nebraska native Thatcher Kozal (Waverly) hit a pair of three-run home runs in the final two frames to key the Jackrabbit comeback. His three-run blast in the eighth brought SDSU to within 6-5 and his three-run shot in the top of the ninth capped a five-run final frame. Dawson Parry plated the tying run with a single and Adam Benes delivered the go-ahead run with a base hit down the left-field line.

Omaha native Dylan Driessen struck out four over the final two innings to earn the victory.

SHORT HOPS: Following are some more quick notes regarding the South Dakota State baseball team heading into Wednesday's game at Nebraska:

SDSU set a program single-game record by scoring 17 runs in the fourth inning of its 19-11, series-opening win at Incarnate Word. Each of the first 12 batters of the inning reached base safely and a total of 21 men went to the plate in the frame.
SDSU has sent 15 different pitchers to the mound so far this season. Nine of the 15 are in their first seasons at SDSU and made their debuts during the first week of play.
Freshman Logan Campbell has made a team-leading seven appearances so far this season, including two in consecutive series against Incarnate Word, Tarleton State and Central Arkansas.
Left-handed reliever Tristan Augedahl has registered 15 strikeouts in only 8 2/3 innings of work so far this season. Augedahl has appeared in five games and has struck out four batters in three of those outings, including in the Feb. 28 win at UCA.
Jackrabbit starting pitchers combined for only 10 innings of work in the first five games of the season, but have logged five or more innings in each of the last five contests.
Sophomore third baseman Nolan Grawe had his streak of reaching base safely end at 26 games in the March 1 series finale at Central Arkansas. Grawe ended the 2025 season by reaching base in the final 18 games of the year and reached base in the first eight games he played in 2026, including hitting his first home run of the season Feb. 27 to open the UCA series.
Long streaks are nothing new for Grawe, who has had separate hitting streaks of 19 games (2025) and 14 games (last 12 games or 2025 and first two games of 2026) en route to setting an SDSU freshman record with 69 hits.
Carter Taylor became the first Jackrabbit with more than one home run this season after he connected on a game-tying solo shot in the eighth inning of the March 1 series finale at Central Arkansas. Taylor also leads the team in batting average (.444) and hits (16).
Freshman Jaren Vogt hit the first Jackrabbit home run of the season in Game 2 of the series against UTSA, which also was his first career start. Vogt is a two-way player who later started on the mound for the Jackrabbits in the Feb. 18 series finale at UIW.
Sophomore Dayton Franke hit the first Jackrabbit grand slam of the season Feb. 18 at Incarnate Word. It was Franke's second career grand slam and ninth home run of his collegiate career — in his 78th career at-bat (now 105 at-bats). As a freshman in 2025, Franke hit eight home runs in 65 at-bats, including three in one game against Oral Roberts, and has one home run in 40 trips to the plate so far this season.
Both Franke and Brady Brown were hit by pitches three times in a game last month. Franke was plunked three times in the Feb. 17 series opener at Incarnate Word, while Brown was hit three times in the Feb. 22 series finale at Tarleton State.
Junior first baseman/designated hitter Luke Luskey recorded his 100th career hit — an RBI infield single — the Feb. 22 series finale at Tarleton State. Luskey now has 101 hits and 92 RBIs for his career in only 96 games played. He leads active Jackrabbits with 23 home runs and also has 29 multi-hit games in his career after tallying two or more hits in three games this year.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State has had players selected as Kwik Star Summit League Baseball Peak Performers of the Week each of the last two weeks.

Tuesday, right-hander Sam Schlecht was honored Tuesday as the Kwik Star Summit League Peak Pitcher of the Week for his performance in a Feb. 28 victory at Central Arkansas.

A senior from Maple Grove, Minnesota, Schlecht carried a shutout into the sixth inning, stretching his scoreless innings streak to 10 before giving up a two-run home run. He struck out a season-high seven batters, walked only one and scattered four hits in improving to 2-1 on the season as the Jackrabbits held on for an 8-5 victory.

The previous week, outfielder Carter Taylor was named the Kwik Star Summit League Baseball Peak Performer of the Week after helping lead the Jackrabbits to their first three wins of the season.

A freshman from Missoula, Montana, Taylor batted .522 (12-for-22) over five games and notched multiple hits in four of those contests. In his first career start, Feb. 17 at Incarnate Word, he went 4-for-6, including hitting his first collegiate home, driving in two runs and scoring twice in a 19-11 Jackrabbit victory. The following day he closed the series with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate that included three RBIs. Taylor, who hit safely in all five games last week to extend his overall hitting streak to six games, tallied two hits in both the Feb. 20 series opener and Feb. 22 finale at Tarleton State.

For the week, his totals included four runs scored, five RBIs, a .696 slugging percentage and a .577 on-base percentage.

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State has been picked to finish fourth in the upcoming Summit League baseball race, according to a preseason poll conducted among the league's six head coaches and announced Feb. 11.

The Jackrabbits totaled 12 points in the poll and are coming off a 2025 campaign in which they compiled a 16-36 overall record, including a 12-18 mark in The Summit League. SDSU returned to the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship, marking the 14th time in 16 years of Division I eligibility that the Jackrabbits qualified for the double-elimination tournament.

Oral Roberts earned the top spot in the preseason poll with 24 points and four first-place votes. Omaha received the other two first-place votes and tied with defending regular season champion St. Thomas for second place in the survey with 19 points.

North Dakota State (11 points) and Northern Colorado (6 points) rounded out the poll.

The Jackrabbits begin Summit League play March 13-15 with a three-game series at Oral Roberts.

The top four teams in league play will advance to the Summit League Baseball Championship May 20-23 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

In addition to the preseason poll, Jackrabbit first baseman Luke Luskey was named a Summit League Player to Watch and Ty Madison was selected as a Summit League Pitcher to Watch.

Luskey, a junior from Green Isle, Minnesota, has earned second-team all-Summit League honors each of the last two seasons. In 2025, he led the league with 14 home runs despite missing the final 12 games of the season due to injury. Luskey also paced the Jackrabbits with 52 runs batted in and a .691 slugging percentage while batting .336.

A senior from Omaha, Madison began the 2025 season in the starting rotation before moving to the bullpen. He made a team-high 22 appearances, striking out 26 batters in 30 innings and posting a 2-2 record.

SUMMIT LEAGUE SUCCESS: South Dakota State has been a consistent winner in The Summit League since it became a league member in 2008. Now in its 19th season as a member of The Summit League, the Jackrabbits have compiled a 239-210 (.532 winning percentage) record in regular season conference games.

SDSU has posted a .500 or better record in league play 10 times and has qualified for the four-team postseason tournament 14 out of the 16 years it has been eligible (no tournament in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic).

The Jackrabbits shared a Summit League regular season title in 2010 and won the league's postseason tournament in 2013.

COACH BISHOP: Rob Bishop, who has guided college baseball teams to more than 700 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 nine-plus seasons with the Jackrabbits, Bishop holds a 178-245 record at SDSU, including a 109-109 mark in Summit League regular season games. He also has led the Jackrabbits to the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship seven times, highlighted by finals appearances on two occasions — in 2018 and 2023.

The 2023 squad set a school record with 89 home runs in 52 games. SDSU played only one true home game but managed a 24-28 overall record and another winning season in Summit League play with a 13-11 mark. That momentum carried over to the four-team league postseason tournament, where the Jackrabbits made a run to the title game.

SDSU hit a Summit League-best 80 home runs in 2024 and also led the circuit with a .492 slugging percentage.

Overall, Bishop holds a 727-567-1 record (.562 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach. He earned his 700th career victory in the Jackrabbits' 11-7 win at North Dakota State on April 6, 2024.

Individually, Jackrabbit players have been honored as all-Summit League performers 48 times during Bishop's tenure, including seven all-league selections in 2025.

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 year 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 2025 SDSU baseball roster features 34 players from 10 different states and one foreign country (Australia). Of the 34 players, 13 are from Minnesota, five are from Nebraska and South Dakota, three are Iowa natives and two hail from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington. Arizona and Wyoming are represented by one player each.

By class, one is a graduate transfer, three are seniors and nine are juniors. The sophomore class consists of 10 players and there is one redshirt freshmen, while 10 are incoming freshmen.

ON DECK: SDSU moves on to Minneapolis for three games at U.S. Bank Stadium in the Cambria Classic. The Jackrabbits will take on Northwestern in the March 7 opener at 11 a.m., followed by a 7 p.m. game against host Minnesota on March 8. The March 9 tournament finale against Southern Illinois is slated for 10 a.m.

-GoJacks.com-