Baseball ends seven-game losing streak

Zach Anderson

Zach Anderson

The SDSU baseball team won 10-5 in the first game of a two-game series against Missouri State on March 10. Stephen Turner tripled twice and drove in three runs to lead SDSU at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.

The Jackrabbits broke a seven-game losing streak and moved to 2-9 on the season, while Missouri State dropped to 4-8.

On March 11, the Jacks defeated Missouri State 7-6 in the 12th inning. With two outs in the top of the ninth, SDSU’s Jesse Sawyer hit a three-run home run to tie the game at 6-6 and force extra innings. The homer was one of Sawyer’s three hits for the game.

SDSU came back after trailing 5-0 after three innings. Relief pitching came up big for the Jacks, as Caleb Thielbar pitched five scoreless innings and helped the Jacks avoid falling into a bigger deficit and eventually earn the win.

“Sam Pieczynski really took a huge step forward on the trip. He gave us four good innings before Caleb Thielbar, who is usually a starter, came in and threw five scoreless innings,” SDSU head baseball coach Ritchie Price said. “Those two guys gave us a chance to win the ball game.”

The Jacks swept Missouri State and moved their record to 3-9 on the season during the two-game winning streak.

“The two Missouri State wins were huge.To walk into Missouri State who was preseason ranked in the top 25 and sweep a series was a great achievement by our team,” Price said.

The SDSU baseball team competed against Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. Creighton’s head coach Ed Servais earned his 200th victory in the 8-2 win over the Jacks on March 14.

SDSU scored its only runs of the game in the first and third innings. Beau Hanowski earned a run after being hit by a pitch and getting driven in by a single from Billy Stitz. In the third inning, Joel Blake homered for the Jacks, and they did not score again.

For the Bluejays, Elliot Soto went 4-for-5 and drove in two runs.

The Jacks played a doubleheader against Creighton on March 15, winning the first game 4-2 and losing 12-3 in the second game.

In the first game, Sawyer and Blake each connected for two-run homers to account for all the Jacks runs. The win put the Jacks at 4-11 on the season and Creighton at 5-12.

Kirby Morsching pitched the final three innings and earned his first save of the year.

The second game saw SDSU build a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning on a bases loaded walk to Eric Cain.

The Bluejays scored the final 10 runs of the game as they took over.

Creighton pitcher Brandon Koenigstein pitched almost four innings of scoreless relief to get the win for the Bluejays.

Up next for the Jacks is a trip to Pullman, Wash., to take on Washington State in a three-game series March 20 to 22.