South Dakota State head coach Rob Bishop reached career coaching milestones this past weekend as South Dakota State took a 2-1 series victory over rival North Dakota State.
Bishop earned his 150th win as head coach of the Jackrabbits in the Friday night victory over the Bison and followed that with career coaching victory No. 700 in the second half of the Saturday double header.
“You know, we had a rough weekend the weekend before and what you want is your team to respond,” coach Bishop said. “And those guys did. We had a really good mindset.”
Overall, it was a crucial weekend for the Jackrabbits who went into the series riding a four-game losing streak, but now find themselves in the middle of a stalemated Summit League standings.
“I literally think all six teams can win the league,” coach Bishop said. “We haven’t seen that kind of parity in our league, and obviously I know who I’m pulling for, and we are capable, but every other team has shown flashes of what they’re really good at.”
Game 1 (Friday)
With the help of six shutout innings thrown by pitcher Nic McCay, the Jacks were able to take game one of the three game series Friday night.
McCay, who struck out 10 batters while giving up just two hits and three walks, earned his third Summit League Player of the Week award this season.
Dawson Parry would get the scoring going in the third inning, hitting a two-RBI double into right-center field.
After a stagnant 2-0 ballgame through six innings of play, Parry would drive in his third RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly, followed by a two-out double by Adam Benes would double the lead to four.
Heading into the final frame, Parry would add one more insurance run with yet another double that would bring home junior infielder Jordan Sagedahl.
Parry and Sagedahl combined for four of the eight hits for the Jacks in the ball game, with plating four runs on just three at-bats.
Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Bison would score one run, but closer Alex Clemons would record two strikeouts in the final inning to seal the 5-1 victory.
The Bison were limited to just three hits in the game, but the four pitchers that made an appearance for the Jacks struggled to find the zone, combining for six walks and hitting another six batters.
Game 2 (Saturday, Game 1 of DH)
Back-to-back three-run innings by the Bison helped North Dakota State takedown the Jacks in a one run contest Saturday afternoon.
Like Friday night’s contest, the Jacks jumped out to an early lead with the help of a solo homerun from Cael Frost in the top half of the first inning.
But NDSU’s James Dunlap would respond with three RBIs across the next two innings to take a 3-1 lead.
SDSU would respond in the top of the third with a 2-RBI single by Parry, followed by an RBI from Cade Stuff that saw the Jacks reclaim a one-run lead once again.
But like the Jacks, the Bison would respond with six runs of their own in the fourth and fifth innings and never gave the lead back, holding off a late rally to knock off the Jacks 9-8.
Even while outhitting the Bison 14-8, SDSU recorded five errors in the loss.
Game 3 (Saturday, Game 2 of DH)
In the grudge match, South Dakota State was able to win the back-and-forth contest and take the series victory 11-7 Saturday evening in Fargo.
The Jacks once again got out to an early lead, this time utilizing a three-run first inning.
Parry got the scoring going with a sacrifice fly scoring a run, followed by an RBI triple by Stuff who would score shortly after on a base hit from Jess Bellows.
Parry went 2-for-4 with four RBIs in game three, batted an even .500 in the series and drove in 10 runs throughout.
NDSU responded with three runs of their own, but SDSU’s Frost hit a thunderous two-run homerun to make it 5-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.
But the Jacks’ momentum quickly faded once again as the Bison rallied to put up three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-5 lead.
Down by one heading into the sixth inning, the Jacks found a way to take the lead and, in the end, put the series away.
A sixth inning that started with Bellows reaching on an error, followed by Bryce Ronken knocking a base hit into center field. A sacrifice bunt allowed pinch hitter Luke Luskey to tie the game on a base hit.
Reece Anderson and Sagedahl would both reach base safely on consecutive singles, while Ronken scored on the latter play. An RBI groundout from Frost plated another run, and Parry would come up and score the fourth and fifth runs of the inning on a two-out single to give SDSU a 10-6 lead.
Both teams would score one more run each, but the Bison would never get closer than a four-run deficit.
South Dakota State pushes their conference record to 6-5 and 13-16 overall heading into next week.
Up Next
The Jacks will head South this weekend to take on the Omaha Mavericks in a three-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. Saturday first pitch and a 1 p.m. start Sunday.
