JACKRABBITS DOWN NORTHWESTERN, 5-4

Friday, March 6

Minneapolis, Minn. // U.S. Bank Stadium

11 a.m.

South Dakota State University

5-8

Northwestern

5-6

Northwestern

South Dakota St.

Photo by: Ricky Bassman

3/6/2026 2:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS – South Dakota State relievers Drew McDowell and Tristan Augedahl combined to hold Northwestern to one unearned run over the final five frames and the Jackrabbits put together a pair of two-out rallies in the late innings to pull out a 5-4 victory Friday in the opening game of the Cambria Classic at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Jackrabbits improved to 5-8 overall. NU dropped to 5-6 on the season.

Trailing 4-2, SDSU tied the game with three straight two-out hits in the bottom of the seventh inning. Ninth-place hitter Nic Werk started the rally with a single to left field and came around to score on pinch-hitter Dayton Franke's double off the curtain in right-center field. Nolan Grawe then followed with a double into the right-field corner to plate Franke.

The Jackrabbits' game-winning score in the home half of the eighth was produced without a hit. After the first two batters of the inning were retired, Carter Taylor, Grant Sorensen and Werk drew consecutive walks from Justin Fryer to load the bases. With Franke batting, new reliever Dominic DeLoreto's second pitch of the at-bat was in the dirt and deflected off the catcher, allowing Taylor to scamper home.

Augedahl picked up his second win of the season after finishing the game with two shutout innings. The southpaw from Caledonia, Minnesota, pitched a perfect eighth inning before allowing a two-out single in the ninth. He struck out two.

McDowell held the Wildcats in check over his three innings, with the only blemish on his stat line being an unearned run as the result of a two-out error in the fifth. The sophomore right-hander struck out two and walked two over three hitless innings.

Both teams' starting pitchers settled in after respective rough first innings. Each of the first three Northwestern batters tallied hits against Jackrabbit starter Ty Madison as Jack Lausch and Ryan Kucherak opened the game with back-to-back doubles and Jackson Freeman followed with an RBI single for an early 2-0 lead.

SDSU tied the game at 2-all in the home half of the first inning when Jaren Vogt and Grawe notched back-to-back singles and Luke Luskey walked to load the bases. Nate Wachter drove in Vogt with a base hit to left and Grawe came across on a sacrifice fly by Travis Finney.

NU starter Ryan Weaver would hold the Jackrabbits off the board for the next five innings as he ended his day with nine strikeouts and only one walk.

Madison, who gave up a solo home run to Owen McElfatrick in the fourth inning, struck out five over his four innings of work.

Grawe and Wachter each tallied two of SDSU's eight hits. Freeman notched two of Northwestern's six hits.

ON DECK
The Jackrabbits continue play at the Cambria Classic by taking on host Minnesota at 7 p.m. Saturday.

NOTES

Friday's game marked the first-ever meeting on the baseball diamond between South Dakota State and Northwestern
Madison's five strikeouts tied a career high
Augedahl now has 17 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings pitched this season
Grawe posted his second consecutive two-hit game and fifth multi-hit game of the season
Franke has three extra-base hits over the last two games (two doubles and a home run)

-GoJacks.com-