BASEBALL

The South Dakota State baseball team is back in action this week with a game against Creighton Wednesday in Omaha before traveling to St. Paul for a three-game series against St. Thomas Friday-Sunday.

The Jackrabbits (6-15, 0-3 Summit League) are coming off their first Summit League games of the season against Oral Roberts, going 0-3 in the series against the Golden Eagles in Tulsa.

In the first game last Friday, the Jackrabbits scored 4 runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game. After that, the game went two extra innings before Oral Roberts’ Jake McMurray hit a game-winning double in the 14th inning to give the Golden Eagles a 5-4 win.

Oral Roberts took that momentum into game two on Saturday, scoring six runs in the third inning that propelled them to a 13-1 victory in seven innings. They then completed the sweep on Sunday with a 10-7 win.

They are 66-19 all-time against the Jackrabbits and have won each of the last nine meetings in Tulsa.

Now the Jackrabbits look ahead to Creighton (11-7) who just came off a three-game series against Wichita State, going 2-1 in the series. The game is set for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Then the Jacks will face their second Summit League series of the season against St. Thomas (4-14, 1-2). SDSU’s home opener will follow against Dakota Wesleyan April 5 at Erv Huether Field. After that comes a three-game home series against Western Illinois April 8-10.

SOFTBALL

After going 2-1 in their last series against Omaha, the Jackrabbit softball team heads to Vermillion for a three-game series against rival USD Saturday and Sunday.

The Jacks opened Summit League play last weekend with three games against the Mavericks, including a Saturday doubleheader.

In game one on Saturday, the Jackrabbits lost in a 2-0 shutout, thanks to an unearned run in the first inning before a home run in the fifth by Omaha. In the second game later that day, the Jacks trailed 3-1 in the sixth inning.

Then freshman infielder Mia Jarecki stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a go-ahead grand slam on her first swing of the afternoon to give the Jacks a 5-3 before eventually winning 6-3.

In the final game of the series, SDSU led 2-0 before a four-run seventh inning that included two RBI doubles and two RBI home runs to pull away with a 6-0 win. Highlights from the game were Jarecki homering for the second-straight game and pitcher Grace Glazner picking up her 10th win of the season.

Up next for the Jackrabbits is their three-game series against the rival Coyotes, a doubleheader Saturday, and another game Sunday. The Coyotes are 16-13 overall and 2-1 in the Summit League this season. They are coming off a 2-1 record in their last series against North Dakota State.

TRACK

South Dakota State track saw many personal bests last weekend at the Emporia State Relays in Emporia, Kansas.

Kayla Christopherson finished first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal-best time of 11:23.40 Tori Glazer also achieved a career-best time of 2:12.98, good for second place in the 800-meter run.

Jessica Christoffer achieved two personal bests over the weekend. Her first was in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.34, good for a third-place finish. The second was her runner-up finish in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:29.22.

Other highlights on the women’s side was a career-best 4:40.86 time in the 1,500-meter run from Claire Beckman, which earned her sixth place. In the women’s heptathlon, Katelyn Darnell claimed second place with 4,295 points, while Elizabeth Gillingham took fourth with 4,094 points.

On the men’s side, Riley Bauer grabbed second place in the 800-meter run in 1:49.42, a personal best. In the 5,000-meter run, three Jackrabbits finished in the top ten, led by Lucas Caminiti, who took fourth with a personal-best 14:47.47. Alexander Auch finished sixth in 14:53.13 while Noah Stewart grabbed eighth with a time of 14:58.14.

Josh Donahoe finished first in four separate events and took the overall runner-up spot in the men’s decathlon with 6043 points, which is a personal best and is the eighth-best score all-time at SDSU.

The men’s team finished in 10th place out of 29 teams with 33 points while the women took 12th place out of 24 teams with 35 points.