South Dakota State sweeps Oakland
BROOKINGS, S.D. – Senior Ryan Waldhart had five hits and four RBIs, but a pair of rallies by the Oakland University baseball team came up short as South Dakota State swept OU 16-6 in seven innings and 7-6 in nine innings in a Summit League doubleheader at Erv Huether Field on Saturday. The Golden Grizzlies rallied from three-runs down in both games, but never led.
“Our guys never quit today and that says something about their heart and character,” said Oakland head coach John Musachio. “Tomorrow we have a chance to earn a split playing against the league leaders on the road, which is a solid position to be in.”
In Game 1, Oakland sophomore Mike Carson was 2-for-2, driving in a run and scoring twice and Oakland (10-23, 4-10) erased a three-run deficit early, but it wasn’t enough as SDSU outhit OU 20-6 to defeat the Golden Grizzlies 16-6.
South Dakota State led 3-0 before the Golden Grizzlies rallied for three runs in the fourth inning. A bases-loaded walk to junior Aaron Cieslak brought in junior Tim Ryan with Oakland’s first run of the game. Waldhart followed up with a 2-RBI single to tie the game 3-3.
SDSU (26-12, 12-3) responded with a five-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth inning. Zach Rhodes hit a two-run home run to cap the Jackrabbits’ bug inning. SDSU added four more runs in the fifth, thanks in part to a 2-RBI double from Joel Blake. Blake was 3-for-5 with four RBIs.
The Jackrabbits got back-to-back home runs from Jesse Sawyer and Zach Briggs and tacked on four more runs in the sixth. Sawyers homer was his ninth of the season.
Facing the large deficit, Oakland continued to scrap. Carson hit a solo home run in the sixth and OU scored two more runs in the seventh. Senior Eric Ogg and Ryan had back-to-back doubles to leadoff the inning. Ryan who scored Oakland’s final run in the game was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Junior starter Russell Luxton (2-3) struck out two batters, but suffered the loss after giving up eight runs. Reliever Deon Entringer (1-0) earned the win for the Jackrabbits. The game scheduled to nine innings, but ended in the seventh due to league rules.
In the nightcap, Waldhart was 4-for-5 and had key 2-RBI single to help force extra innings, but Oakland lost 7-6 in nine innings. The Golden Grizzlies scored three runs in the seventh inning off of Trever Vermeulen, the preseason Pitcher of the Year in The Summit League to force the extra innings in the game which was slated to go only seven innings.
Trailing 6-3 in the seventh, Waldhart produced a two-out single that brought in two runs and made it a one-run game. Senior Dan Gliot followed with two-out hit to right field that drove Cieslak with the tying run. Vermeulen was able to avoid giving up the go-ahead run with a strikeout to end the inning, stranding two OU runners.
Neither team’s bullpen would budge until the ninth inning when SDSU finally broke the deadlock. Daniel Telford had a bases-loaded single through the drawn in Oakland infield to end the game.
Junior reliever Brady Adamek (2-3) struck out four SDSU batters through four shutout innings of work, but suffered the loss when he gave up his only run of the game in the ninth inning. Reliever Erik DeJong (3-0) threw two scoreless innings to earn the win for SDSU.
South Dakota State jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the second inning, but OU chipped away at the Jackrabbits with single runs in three different innings. Carson doubled to drive in a run in the third and Ryan scored on sacrifice fly in the fifth. Then Gliot doubled to drive in senior Aaron Wick in the sixth.
Oakland outhit SDSU 15-14 behind Waldhart’s four-hit effort. Gliot, Carson and senior Tommy Jablonski each added two hits each. For the second time in as many days, every Oakland player that batted for OU logged a hit.
Category: Colleges / Other, Oakland University
