The Jackrabbit baseball team traveled down to Omaha this past weekend, going 1-2 against the Mavericks.
Game 1
In the first game, the Jackrabbits defeated the Mavericks 7-2 winning their third game in a row. Although the Jacks ended the game with two errors, they outhit the Mavs 13-5.
Senior right-handed pitcher Nic McCay allowed two hits, resulting in a run in the bottom of the first. McCay would go on to sit seven down, five by strikeouts remaining unbeaten on the year at 4-0 with 10 strikeouts, one walk and five hits.
In the fourth inning, after going without a hit for the first three innings and being down by one, junior outfielder Cael Frost hit a solo home run to tie the game up at one. On the next pitch, senior infielder Dawson Parry sent a pitch from Omaha’s Charlie Bell over the wall for his 11th home run of the season.
Adding a run in the fifth inning with an RBI single by infielder Jordan Sagedahl, the Jacks would go up 3-1. Frost added to his home run list with a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning, putting the Jacks up 6-1 and hitting his 16th three-run home run of the season.
A Reece Anderson single would bring home pinch-runner Adam Benes in the eighth inning, scoring the final run of the game for the Rabbits.
Six Jackrabbits earned two hits during the game including Anderson, Frost, Parry, Cade Stuff, Luke Luskey and Davis Carr. The Mavs’ Henry Zipay had two of their five hits.
McCay was the winning pitcher for the Rabbits, going eight innings, throwing 112 pitches and lowering his ERA to 2.08.
Game 2
In the second game, the Rabbits fell to the Mavs 21-15 in a high-scoring game full of hits.
Sagedahl gave the Jacks the lead early with a triple that scored Anderson. Sagedahl then scored on a wild pitch putting the Jacks up 2-0, this lead would not last for long as in the bottom of the first inning, Omaha matched the Jacks, the first run off of a Drew Lechnir home run.
In the second inning, a solo home run by Anderson would put the Rabbits up by one, followed by an RBI single by Stuff in the third putting them up 4-2. This lead would then again not last as Omaha would gain the lead after earning four runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Head coach Rob Bishop believes that Anderson is finally coming back from early-season injuries and performing how he is capable.
“He’s back to being Reece and playing really well, this last weekend was the first weekend where I thought we really saw the real version of him,” Bishop said.
Sagedahl put the Jacks back in the lead with a grand slam over the left-center wall. Two batters later, Parry added to the Jacks’ score with a solo shot, his 12th of the season.
Up 9-6, SDSU would earn their final lead of the game with a solo home run from Sagedahl in the sixth, adding two more runs later in the inning with a Luskey run-scoring double and a sacrifice fly by Jess Bellows, the Jacks would go up 12-9.
A bases-clearing three-run double from Cardel Dick and crossing the plate later on a sacrifice fly would put the Mavs up 19-15 at the end of the seventh. Omaha added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, where the back-and-forth game would end.
Three Jackrabbits ended the second game with three hits with Anderson, Frost and Parry. Stuff earned two. For the Mavs batting, Matt Goetzmann (3), Henry Zipay (4) and Bishop (6), Lechnir, Noah Greise, Jackson Trout, Dick and Trent Burkhalter all had at least two hits.
Pitching for the Rabbits, Dylan Driessen took the loss on the mound with one strikeout and four hits allowed. Taking the win for the Mavericks on the hill was Luke Gainer with three strikeouts and two hits allowed.
Game 3
In the final game of the series, the Jacks fell to the Mavericks 10-9 in a tight series final.
Omaha started strong with four runs to the Rabbits’ none in the first inning. The next two innings were scoreless until Luskey put SDSU on the board with an RBI double.
The Mavs would strike again in the fifth with six runs off of a run-scoring single from Dick, a solo home run from Goetzmann, a two-run homer from Burkhalter and a two-run double from Trout.
Holding Omaha scoreless the rest of the game, the Jacks put up eight runs but that wouldn’t be enough to top the Mavericks.
Coach Bishop was proud of his team and their offensive effort even though they came up short.
“I thought our offense competed great in game three, we had lots of barrels where we weren’t rewarded necessarily. In the last inning, we got three or four great swings and they just made good defensive plays,” said Bishop.
For the Rabbits, Jake Goble took the loss with five strikeouts, allowing six hits. Taking the win for Omaha was Harrison Kreiling with four strikeouts and five hits allowed, and Luke Gainer earned the save with two strikeouts, allowing one hit.
