Heather Hall

The South Dakota State University baseball team was runner-up at the North Central Conference last year and is already off to a challenging start.

The team’s first game of the season was originally set for March 3 but got postponed because of the weather.

SDSU had a start of 0-4 after their losses the next day to Grand Valley State and Pittsburg State respectively.

Greg Geary and Matt Hansen both had home runs for the Jacks. Hansen was 3-for-4 and Geary was 2-for-4 with a total of three runs.

After starting the second game, the game ended up being called off because the cold drizzle. In the top of the fourth the Jackrabbits scored four runs by Ben Morrison, Ryan Greene, Jared Schleifer and Jesse Schroeder.

On Thursday, SDSU played Grand Valley State again and lost with a 7-0 shutout in Joplin, Mo.

The team had a total of five hits: singles by Ryan Sauter, Jake Frey and Adam Schroeder and doubles by Geary and Breet Filut.

Sauter pitched until the third inning and Nate Huls pitched the final two innings.

On Friday, SDSU lost their games against Sterling, Kansas, 6-3 and Pittsburg State, 8-3.