South Dakota State baseball makes NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013

MINNEAPOLIS – South Dakota State is going to the NCAA Baseball Tournament for the first time since 2013 as the Jackrabbits won the Summit League Tournament on Saturday.

The Jackrabbits were the No. 4 seed going into the tournament and beat top-seeded Oral Roberts 7-3 on Wednesday. They followed that up with a 2-1 win over No. 3 seeded Northern Colorado on Thursday and that sent them to the championship games on Saturday.

SDSU would have two opportunities to win one game against ORU on Saturday. The Jacks dropped the first game 4-1 but then won the winner-take-all second game 9-6.

Jackrabbit head coach Rob Bishop said his team had a good mindset going into the second game as they flushed away the result of the first game and put all of their focus into what was ahead of them.

"I think the biggest thing was just, hey, forget about the circumstances that got us here," Bishop said. "If we're in the other dugout and we just won a game, you know, you're emotionally happy, but the fact remains, it's one game for a championship. At the beginning of every year, you take that. So, we just kind of had to reset and play good baseball, and not leave anything on the table."

In their second opportunity to win the title on Saturday, SDSU fell down 2-0 right away as the Golden Eagles scored two runs in the top of the first. However, the Jacks responded right away as Nolan Grawe and Nate Wachter each hit home runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 2-2.

ORU regained the lead in the top of the second with an RBI single. Nic Werk would tie things up again for the Jacks in the bottom of the inning as he homered. Then SDSU took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the third as Grawe scored on a passed ball and Luke Jones hit an RBI single to make it 5-3 going into the fourth.

The Golden Eagles would score a run in each of the next two innings to make it 5-5 going into the bottom of the fifth. But once again the Jacks would respond. This time it was a two-run double from Werk to make it 7-5 going into the sixth.

ORU got one run back with a solo shot in the top of the sixth but then Carter Taylor hit an RBI single and Keagen Jirschele hit an RBI double in the bottom of the inning to make it 9-6 going into the final three innings.

Ty Madison was the one that shut things down on the mound for the Jacks in the final three innings. In total he pitched five and a third innings and gave up two runs, one earned, on four hits with two strikeouts and no walks. Sam Novotny got the start on the mound for SDSU and he gave up four earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

Bishop said the way his team handled the ups and downs of that championship game was not surprising at all, considering how they did it throughout the season.

"I thought, all year, we really showed a lot of resilience," Bishop said. ìYou know, we didn't always play as well as we wanted to, but when we had tough moments in games or we had tough games or tough weekends, we just kind of bounced back. I mean, if you came to a Tuesday practice, it's pretty much the same, regardless of how the weekend went before.

"... You know, we got down 2-0 in that second game and we hit two solo home runs to answer back. I think that just really set the stage and our vibe in the dugout was really good. Nic Werk and Keagan Jirschele were huge parts [of the win]. Those two guys in the eight and nine hole getting a couple of big hits each was fun to see. It's nice to see different guys get it done when it counts."

The NCAA Tournament appearance is a long time coming for Bishop as this is his 10th year at SDSU. He said it was a special moment for him when the Jacks got the final out on Saturday because of the amount of support he's had.

"It was really special, and partially because of this special group, but as I get older and do this longer, I just recognize, each year you take strides and itís all of the alums that have come before and all of the coaches that have come before, you're just stacking bricks," Bishop said. "So it was nice to have 150 text messages after the game from friends, family, alums, supporters and people in the community that are pulling for us.

"You know, I'm a Jackrabbit fan first and foremost, so I see that the other sports are having success. We just wanted to be a part of it and I'm really proud of our guys and really happy for our team. It's a challenging league that we play in and it's challenging to be in the north and having to fight the weather, so I think it's just a great accomplishment to get to where we are."

The Jacks will have to keep that underdog mentality as they head to the NCAA Tournament Regionals in Lincoln, Neb., this upcoming weekend. SDSU will play No. 13 seeded Nebraska on Friday at 3 p.m. The other two teams in the regional are Ole Miss and Arizona State. It's a double elimination regional, so SDSU will be able to play at least two games.

The Jacks are 24-31 on the season and that is the worst winning percentage of the 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament. SDSU is one of four schools with a losing record in the tournament.

Bishop said he knows his team is up against it when it comes to the talent discrepancy, but he noted that baseball is a funny game and the most talented team doesn't always come out on top.

"I'm going to be reminding the guys that it's just baseball," Bishop said. "On paper, we don't really match up with those teams. I mean, Nebraska and Arizona State probably have a $500,000-plus payroll and Ole Miss probably has a $5 million or $10 million payroll. But baseball is just different.

"It's not like [football] where you have a 200-pound lineman going up against a guy who's a 350-pound NFL guy. You just have to make plays. It's really just about getting the momentum and playing well, and if you win a game, absolutely anything can happen."

This will be the second time that the Jacks will play the Cornhuskers as Nebraska beat SDSU 5-4 on March 4. SDSU fell behind 4-0 in that game and came back and tied things up at 4-4 in the top of the eighth. However, the Cornhuskers scored a run in the bottom of the inning and then shut down the Jacks in the top of the ninth to earn the win.

Bishop said there should be a good atmosphere at Haymarket Park on Friday. He added that Nebraska is a really good team, but he wants his team to take advantage of nobody having any expectations for them.

"All of the [regional hosts] are elite teams," Bishop said. "Nebraska was one of the top 10 or 15 teams in the country all year long. We played them early in the year and played them in a really tough midweek game, but you know, they went on a roll once conference play got underway, so they're a great club.

"It'll be awesome for us to have easy travel and it's a great venue. I'm sure it'll be packed on Friday when we're playing them. I always look at it like itís an opportunity and there's no risk for us. You know we have expectations [for ourselves], but I don't think there's a lot of expectations for us from the rest of the baseball world. So we're just going to go down there and let it rip."

First pitch between Nebraska and SDSU is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday and you can watch the game on ESPN+. The winner of that will play the winner of Ole Miss and Arizona State on Saturday at 7 p.m. The two losers will play an elimination game on Saturday at 2 p.m.