Jackrabbits drop regular season finale slugfest to Bison

FARGO, N.D. (Dakota News Now) - North Dakota State scored nine times in the bottom of the sixth inning and held off a late rally by South Dakota State to record a 12-9 victory in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at Newman Outdoor Field.

In claiming the decisive game of the three-game series, the Bison improved to 22-28 overall and 16-7 in The Summit League. SDSU dropped to 22-26 overall and 13-11 in league play.

The Jackrabbits held a 3-2 lead until the fateful sixth inning, scoring all three of their runs on home runs in the fourth inning. Luke Ira led off the top of the fourth with his 14th homer of the season and Nic Nelson followed two batters later with a two-run shot for his 13th round-tripper of the year.

SDSU starter Jake Goble retired the first batter of the home half of the sixth, but the next nine Bison hitters — against four different Jackrabbit pitchers — all reached safely. James Dunlap greeted reliever Will Kent with a go-ahead two-run double, which was followed by run-scoring singles by Stephen Lund and Will Busch off Dylan Richey. Cadyn Schwabe added an RBI single, Peter Brookshaw drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Druw Sackett capped the rally with a two-run double off Jack Kruger.

The Jackrabbits wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, putting up five runs of their own in the top of the eighth. Dawson Parry hit SDSU’s third home run of the game, a solo blast to lead off the frame, and Cade Stuff drove in pinch-hitter Matthew Werk with a double. Run-scoring singles by Jordan Sagedahl and Ira book-ended a sacrifice fly by Reece Anderson.

Jess Bellows added an RBI single in the ninth inning to pull to within 12-9, and the Jackrabbits brought the tying run to the plate before running out of outs.

NDSU held a 14-13 advantage in hits, with six different players notching two hits apiece. Ira and Parry were joined in the two-hit column for SDSU by Sagedahl and Adam Benes.

Goble was assessed the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. The sophomore right-hander struck out six and walked only one. Kruger worked the final 2 2/3 innings for the Jackrabbits.

UP NEXT

The Jackrabbits and Bison are scheduled to play again in the opening round of the Summit League Baseball Championship Wednesday in Fargo. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

NOTES

NDSU claimed the season series, 4-2
Nelson’s home run was his fifth in the last five games
SDSU increased its season home run total to 83, putting the Jackrabbits one away from tying their school record of 84 set in 2010
Ira’s home run was the 29th of his career, tying him with Ryan Hansen (2001-04) for 10th place on the Jackrabbit career charts
Stuff took over the team lead in doubles with this 16th of the season
Nelson and Ira ended the regular season tied for the team lead with 44 runs batted in
Bellows reached base safely for the 15th consecutive game
Parry extended his hitting streak to eight games

*CORRECTION-In the broadcast we mistakenly reported the final score as being 13-9

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