JACKS WRAP UP REGULAR SEASON AT OMAHA

Wednesday, May 13

Omaha, Neb. // Tal Anderson Field

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Omaha

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia Sports Media

5/12/2026 4:15:00 PM | Baseball

South Dakota State (20-27, 11-12 Summit) at Omaha (18-23, 13-10 Summit)

When	Wednesday-Saturday, May 13-16 • 6 p.m. each night
Where	Tal Anderson Field \| Omaha, Nebraska
TV	Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus • Wednesday's Broadcast \| • Thursday's Broadcast • Friday's Broadcast \| Saturday's Broadcast
Radio	None
Live Stats	OMavs.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Omaha \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

BROOKINGS, S.D. — The magic number is one.

South Dakota State enters the final weekend of the regular season needing either one win or a North Dakota State loss to secure a return to next week's Summit League Baseball Championship. The Jackrabbits will travel to Omaha for a four-game series that begins Wednesday and wraps up Saturday.

All four games are scheduled for 6 p.m. starts at Tal Anderson Field and will be available for viewing through the Summit League Network streaming platform powered by Midco Sports Plus. The May 13 opener will be a makeup game from the series in early April between the Jackrabbits and Mavericks that was canceled due to inclement weather. SDSU will be the home team in that contest, while Omaha will be the home team for the other three games.

SDSU enters the week with a 20-27 overall record and a fourth-place mark of 11-12 in Summit League play after closing the home season by winning two of three games May 8-10 against St. Thomas. The Jackrabbits trail Northern Colorado in winning percentage by .002 points in the race for third place.

Providing all scheduled games are played across the league this week, the Jackrabbits could jump as high as second in the league standings by winning three of four games against Omaha and Northern Colorado loses at least once in its three-game series versus league-leading Oral Roberts. Noth Dakota State plays a four-game series at St. Thomas to close out this week's Summit League slate.

Omaha currently stands second in The Summit League with a 13-10 mark against conference foes and is 18-23 overall. The Mavericks claimed two of three games last weekend at Oral Roberts.

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 196th time South Dakota State and Omaha have met on the baseball diamond. The Mavericks hold a 99-95-1 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1949. The two programs were longtime rivals in the North Central Conference before both moved to Division I and The Summit League.

The Jackrabbits notched a 4-3 series advantage during the 2025 season. SDSU won the regular season series, 4-2, after winning two of three games in each of the two weekend sets. Omaha claimed the final matchup between the two squads with a 7-6, 10-inning victory in an elimination game played on the Mavericks' home field at the Summit League Baseball Championship.

Following are some game-by-game highlights from the 2025 season series:

Game 1: SDSU 7, Omaha 5 (April 11 at Erv Huether Field)
• W-Caleb Duerr (2-3). L-Oliver Mabee (0-1). SV-Dylan Driessen (2).

Jess Bellows ignited a five-run third inning with a home run and Dylan Driessen pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief with six strikeouts as the Jackrabbits christened their recently completed turf field at Erv Huether Field.

Game 2: SDSU 13, Omaha 3 (April 12 at Erv Huether Field)
• W-Jake Goble (1-1). L-Ben Weber (1-4).

The Jackrabbits scored runs in bunches in the late innings to put the 10-run rule into effect in the eighth inning. SDSU broke a 1-all tie with three runs in the sixth inning, followed by a four-run seventh and five-run eighth. Owen Siegert went 4-for-5 with three doubles and drove in three runs. Nolan Grawe and Carter Sintek each homered while Jake Goble threw four solid innings of relief to earn the victory.

Game 3: Omaha 19, SDSU 5 (April 13 at Erv Huether Field)
• W-Maddox Meyer (1-0). L-Reece Arbogast (0-2).

Omaha pounded out 24 hits, including home runs by Blake Stenger and Drew Borner, to salvage the series finale. Tyler Palmer and Henry Zipay each added four hits.

All five Jackrabbit runs scored on home runs — two-run shots by Luke Luskey and Adam Benes, as well as a solo homer by Dayton Franke.

Game 4: SDSU 7, Omaha 3 (May 9 at Omaha, Nebraska)
• W-Arlen Peters (1-3). L-Ben Weber (3-5). SV-Dylan Driessen (6).

The South Dakota State pitching tandem of Arlen Peters and Jake Goble cooled the Omaha bats for the first eight innings and the Jackrabbits took control with a four-run fifth.
Carter Sintek doubled in two of the fifth-inning runs and added a run-scoring single in the seventh to help the Jackrabbits build a 7-1 lead.

Omaha scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying run on deck before Dylan Driessen ended the game with a strikeout.

Game 5: Omaha 14, SDSU 11 (May 10 at Omaha, Nebraska)
• W-Cameron Teinert (1-4). L-Tristan Augedahl (0-2). SV-Oliver Mabee (4).

Cardel Dick capped an 11-run sixth inning for Omaha with a grand slam and the Mavericks held off a Jackrabbit comeback bid in the late innings to even the series at Tal Anderson Field. Jackson Trout was 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored to pace the Omaha offense.

Dayton Franke sparked the Jackrabbits with a pinch-hit two-run home run in the seventh inning and SDSU scored four times in the eighth for the final margin.

Game 6: SDSU 14, Omaha 3 (May 11 at Omaha, Nebraska)
• W-Sam Schlecht (3-3). L-Maddox Meyer (2-2).

The Jackrabbits jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead and put the game away with a six-run fourth inning to secure the road series. Owen Siegert and Jess Bellows each tallied three of SDSU's 13 hits.

Game 7: SDSU 14, Omaha 3 (May 11 at Omaha, Nebraska)
• W-Sam Beck (1-0). L-Dylan Driessen (2-3).

Omaha's Drew Borner hit a two-run single in the bottom of the 10th inning to finish off a 7-6 comeback victory in ending South Dakota State's 2025 season. Borner's heroics came after the Jackrabbits had taken a 6-5 lead on a sacrifice fly by Nolan Grawe in the top of the 10th for his fourth RBI of the game.

SDSU led 5-0 until Omaha scored four runs in the sixth and tied the game at 5-all with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

SHORT HOPS: Following are some more quick notes regarding the South Dakota State baseball team heading into this week's games against Omaha:

After going 1-7 in one-run games after a slew of close contests in February and March, the Jackrabbits have won their last two games decided by a single run in recent Summit League series. SDSU recorded its second one-run victory of the season with a 7-6, 11-inning triumph over Northern Colorado on April 24. SDSU scored three times in the bottom of the 11th after the Bears scored twice in the top of the frame. The Jacks then rallied for a 5-4 victory May 2 at North Dakota State after trailing 4-0 through three innings.
SDSU scored 21 runs in each of the last two games of its Summit League series at Northern Colorado in late March, marking the first time since an April 28, 2010, home doubleheader against North Dakota (won 21-10 and 21-8) that the Jackrabbits scored 20-plus runs in consecutive games.
The Jackrabbits tallied double-digit runs in an inning for the second and third times this season, scoring 12 runs in the eighth inning of the March 28 game at Northern Colorado, followed by a 10-run seventh inning the next day.
SDSU previously set a program single-game record by scoring 17 runs in the fourth inning of its 19-11, series-opening win at Incarnate Word on Feb. 17 in San Antonio, Texas. 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.
The Jackrabbits have scored in double figures in 14 games this season.
Nolan Grawe had his 16-game hitting streak come to an end in the April 19 series finale against Oral Roberts. Over his 16-game hitting streak, which began March 17 at Oklahoma State, Grawe batted .370 (27-for-73) with 23 RBIs and 19 runs scored. He notched an extra-base hit in 11 of the games en route to a .658 slugging percentage (seven doubles, four triples and two home runs) during his recent hot streak.
Grawe tied an SDSU single-season record with a 19-game hitting streak during his freshman season in 2025. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native set an SDSU freshman record with 69 hits last season and ended the 2025 campaign with a 12-game hitting streak that reached 14 games with hits in the first two games he played this season.
Grawe recorded his 100th career hit March 25 at Creighton and enters the weekend with 129 hits in only 95 career games. He currently leads the team with 60 hits, 18 doubles, four triples and 44 runs scored. He also ranks second with five home runs, 41 RBIs and a .549 slugging percentage after going 6-for-15 at the plate last weekend versus St. Thomas. Four of his six hits went for extra bases as he notched three doubles and a home run.
Nic Werk has dramatically improved his offensive numbers from a season ago and currently is tied for second on the team with eight doubles. Werk had his career-best streak of reaching base safely in 17 consecutive games snapped in the April 19 series finale versus Oral Roberts. As part of his streak, Werk registered a .900 on-base percentage in the two-game series at Oklahoma State (4-for-5 with five walks) March 17-18.
A utility player, Werk has made 26 starts at second base, eight in left field, two at shortstop, one in right field and one in center field. After missing the eight games of the Jackrabbits' season-opening road trip through Texas, he has started 38 of the last 39 games.
As a team, the Jackrabbits hit a season-high six home runs in the 19-1 victory against Minnesota Morris. That marked the most by an SDSU squad in a game at the current Erv Huether Field, which opened in 2008, and the most in any game since hitting seven in Game 2 of a doubleheader May 14, 2023, against Northern Colorado in Sioux Falls.
Included in the Jackrabbit onslaught against Minnesota Morris were back-to-back home runs by back-to-back home runs by Nate Wachter and Luke Luskey in the fifth inning. That marked the first consecutive homers by the Jackrabbits since Luskey and Bryce Ronken accomplished the feat March 1, 2025, at Sacramento State.
Luke Wroblewski led off the April 11 series finale at St. Thomas with a home run, marking the first time the Jackrabbits have opened a game with a round-tripper since Bryce Ronken at Northern Colorado on May 4, 2024. Wroblewski's leadoff blast was the lone home run SDSU hit in the three-game series against the Tommies.
A graduate transfer, Wroblewski has moved from right field to center field in recent weeks in place of an injured Owen Siegert.
Siegert has been out of action since the series at Northern Colorado in late March and has missed the last 19 games. He could return to the lineup this weekend and be available for postseason play should the Jackrabbits advance. At the time of his injury, Siegert was batting a team-best .343 (35-for-102).
Sam Schlecht has been a constant in the starting rotation for the Jackrabbits all season as the senior right-hander has pitched at least five innings in nine of his 12 starts, including five of the last six. Schlecht leads the staff in strikeouts (59) and innings pitched (61.1), while sharing the team lead with three wins.
Ty Madison has been the winning pitcher in each of his last three appearances. The senior right-hander began the streak by pitching the final 7 2/3 innings and striking out a career-high 10 batters May 2 at North Dakota State. He then picked up the win in relief in both his May 8 and May 10 outings against St. Thomas, when he pitched a combined 6 2/3 innings.
Left-handed reliever Tristan Augedahl retired all six St. Thomas batters he faced in closing out the Jackrabbits' two wins last weekend. Augedahl struck out two in the top of the ninth of the May 8 series opener to pick up his team-leading fourth save of the season, then notched one strikeout in a 1-2-3 ninth in the May 10 series finale.
SDSU's combined no-hitter by Drew McDowell (6 innings) and Austin Henry (1 inning) versus Buena Vista on April 28 was the first Jackrabbit no-no of the Division I era (since 2005). The last Jackrabbit no-hitter was turned in by Pete Torgerson against Southwest Minnesota State on April 1, 1989.
The Jackrabbits turned three double plays in a game for the third time this season April 29 versus Minnesota Morris and now have 35 double plays to their credit and are fielding at a .976 clip for the season.
Travis Finney became the third different Jackrabbit player to be hit by a pitch three times in a game this season as he was plunked three times April 22 versus Briar Cliff to tie a Jackrabbit single-game record in the Division I era (since 2005). Dayton Franke and Brady Brown were each hit by pitches three times in a game in February — Franke was dotted 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.
SDSU also tied a team record in the Division I era by being hit a total of eight times in back-to-back games against Briar Cliff (April 22) and Northern Colorado (April 24). That matched the mark first established March 17, 2022, at Northwestern State (La.). In the game against Northern Colorado, six Jackrabbit batters were hit by pitches in the first inning alone, helping SDSU score four times without the benefit of a hit.
In all, Jackrabbit players have been hit by pitches a total of 99 times in 2026. Luke Luskey has been hit by a pitch 17 times to lead the team, followed by Dayton Franke and Carter Taylor with 14. Luskey's 17 hit-by-pitches are second-most in a season in program history and one behind single-season leader Jesse Sawyer (18 in 2010).
Taylor had his team-best 20-game streak of reaching base safely come to an end in the May 1 series opener at North Dakota State. However, he finished the series strong by going 5-for-10 at the plate over the final two games, including hitting his fourth home run of the season in the series finale. Taylor has drawn a team-best 27 walks this season and leads the team with a .477 on-base percentage after going 3-for-3 in the May 10 series finale against St. Thomas.
Luskey tallied his 100th career RBI with a run-scoring double in the first inning of Game 2 of the March 21 doubleheader against North Dakota State and comes into the weekend with 135 RBIs in 131 career games (125 starts). He leads the team and Summit League with 52 RBIs after driving in 13 over the last four games.
Luskey has moved into the Jackrabbit career top 10 for home runs after connecting on five round-trippers over the last eight games to up his career total to 33. He hit his team-leading 11th home run of the season in the first inning of the May 8 series opener against St. Thomas.
Luskey's two-homer game May 3 was his second of the season — both of which have come against North Dakota State — and fifth of his career. He also homered twice against the Bison in the first game of a March 21 doubleheader at Erv Huether Field.
Luke Evenson (April 22 against Briar Cliff) and Nate Wachter (April 29 versus Minnesota Morris) also have hit two home runs in a game this season for the Jacks.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State last week swept the Summit League baseball weekly awards with Nate Wachter earning Kwik Star Peak Performer of the Week accolades and Ty Madison receiving Kwik Star Peak Pitcher of the Week honors.

In five games last week, Wachter batted .667 (12-for-18) with 10 runs batted in and nine runs scored, adding a 1.167 slugging percentage. He collected two or more hits in four of the five games, highlighted by a 4-for-4, two-home run, seven-RBI performance against Minnesota Morris on April 29. A redshirt freshman outfielder/catcher from Blair, Nebraska, Wachter went 3-for-4 in each of the Jackrabbits' two wins at North Dakota State over the weekend, including delivering the game-winning hit in a 5-4 come-from-behind victory on May 2.

Madison pitched the final 7 2/3 innings and recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in SDSU's one-run victory at North Dakota State on May 2. After allowing a run in his first full inning of work, the senior right-hander from Omaha, Nebraska, blanked the Bison over the final six frames and retired 10 batters in a row in one stretch. He did not walk a batter in the game.

Since moving to the bullpen in late March, Madison has posted a 2.05 earned run average over 22 innings and seven relief appearances while striking out 22 batters and issuing only one base on balls.

Wachter and Madison are the fourth and fifth Jackrabbit players to garner Summit League weekly awards this season. Outfielder Carter Taylor (Feb. 24) and designated hitter/first baseman Luke Luskey (March 24) were previous Peak Performer honorees, while Sam Schlecht was selected as Peak Pitcher of the Week on March 3.

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 top four teams in league play will advance to the Summit League Baseball Championship May 20-23 at Siebert Field in Minneapolis, 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 their 19th season as a member of The Summit League, the Jackrabbits have compiled a 250-222 (.530 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 194-265 record at SDSU, including a 120-121 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 a 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 has compiled a 743-587-1 record (.559 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 mark.

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: Should the Jackrabbits earn a spot in the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship, they will play at either noon or 6 p.m. on May 20 in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament at the University of Minnesota.

-GoJacks.com-