The weekend’s Summit League matchup at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium in Macomb, Ill., will pit a South Dakota State (7-10, 0-3) team that is trying to find its way against a Western Illinois (3-12, 1-2) squad that has struggled mightily on the mound and at the plate.
The Jackrabbits have dropped four straight and are 0-3 in the Summit League –you can’t hide from that. But what the record doesn’t tell you is that of SDSU’s ten losses, six are by two runs or fewer, including three of the last four.
One would think that a team that was picked to finish third in the conference and has been the No. 1 seed in each of the last two Summit League Baseball Championships will quickly figure out how to win those games. Teams with experience know how to win the close ones and SDSU features a starting lineup with six returning position players and the Summit Preseason Freshman of the Year in third baseman Tony Kjolsing.
The Jackrabbits’ offense hasn’t blown anyone away, but their .279/.367/.347 clip is good enough for third-best in the Summit and 97th overall in the nation.
Junior outfielder Zach Coppola leads the starters with a .354 average and there are six hitters in the SDSU lineup batting at least .280.
Senior outfielder Eric Danforth (.280/.357/.320) is riding a five-game hitting streak while freshman Tony Kjolsing (.284/.355/.463) has reached base in 14 straight contests. Kjolsing opened the season as the Jackrabbits’ starting third baseman and leads the team with two home runs.
While it’s hard to find one glaring deficiency that begs for correction, it’s worth noting that SDSU is one of the few teams in the nation that has not seen an increase in power production thanks to the introduction of the flat-seamed baseball. Teams are hitting 40 percent more home runs this season (0.33 per game in 2014 to 0.47 per game in 2015) but the Jackrabbits have gone yard just three times this year.
They’ve also seen themselves abandon 161 runners through seventeen games and miss several key scoring opportunities that could have won multiple games. SDSU stranded 10 runners in a 1-0 loss to Stephen F. Austin back on Feb. 27 and left 13 men on base in last weekend’s 7-6 setback at league-leader Nebraska-Omaha.
Pitching certainly isn’t the problem. SDSU ranks second in the Summit League behind Oral Roberts with a staff ERA of 4.61. Of the 12 seniors on fourth-year head coach Dave Schrage’s roster, nine are pitchers, including the top three starters from the 2014 season.
At the top of the rotation is Preseason Pitcher of the Year Adam Bray. The senior right-hander is 1-2 on the year (3.20 ERA) and stands fifth in the league with 27 strikeouts. He is ranked second in career strikeouts (211), third in career starts (41) and third in innings pitched (260.2) and will go down as one of the best pitchers in program history.
The Eden Prairie, Minnesota native owns a career record of 16-14 at SDSU and is slated to start Friday’s Summit League series opener at Western Illinois.
Seniors Chris Anderson (2-1, 3.28 ERA, 24.2 IP, 15 K) and Chad Hodges (1-1, 7.47 ERA, 15.2 IP, 13 K) round out the Jackrabbits’ weekend rotation.
Senior closer J.D. Moore had earned two saves in five appearances and owns an ERA of 1.93. His 28 career saves is just two shy of the Summit League career record of 30, which was set by Brett Davis of Illinois-Chicago from 1988-91.
This weekend provides an excellent opportunity for SDSU to both get on track and seek revenge against a Western Illinois team that eliminated the Jacks from the Summit League Baseball Championship with a 5-2 come-from-behind victory that also ended their season.
The reeling Leathernecks (3-12, 1-2 Summit) are coming off a St. Patrick’s Day double-header sweep at the hands of Wichita State (13-6 and 18-2). The Shockers (8-12) did just that, out-scoring the Leathernecks 31-8 and pounding out 24 hits against a WIU staff that gives up more than 10 hits a game.
Last weekend the Leathernecks dropped their Summit League opening series to an upstart IPFW squad that was picked to finish last in the preseason poll. WIU posted a 4-2 win on Friday night but dropped the next two by the scores of 6-3 and 8-4.
The light-hitting Leathernecks are fifth in the Summit League in terms of overall hitting (.227/.319/.293) and rank fourth with five home runs—10 behind league leader IPFW.
It doesn’t get better on the mound for the Leathernecks. WIU stands fifth in the league with a 6.66 ERA and ranks near the bottom nationally in walks per nine (6.22), WHIP (1.84) and hits per game (10.32).
Rotation mainstay Tom Constand (0-4, 7.64) has had a rough start. Newcomer Joe Mortillaro (1-1, 2.11 ERA) has quickly moved into the weekend rotation after spending his first two seasons in the junior college ranks.
Infielder Payton Jeffers is the team’s top hitter through 15 games, with a .351/.442/.378 slash. Senior infielder Jake Moore owns a six-game hitting streak. Jeffers, Moore and sophomore Adam McGinnis are hitting .421, .391, and .318, respectively over the course of the past six games.
McGinnis tallied six hits against Fort Wayne to snap out of a six game hitless streak and increase his batting average by more than 100 points.
JJ Reimer, a 2014 second team all-league and all-tournament team selection, started the season in a terrible slump—121/.268/.333—but had a solid week and has increased his average to .170/.322/.340 with a team-high 11 RBI.
Sophomore catcher Adam McGinnis was recently named to the 2015 Johnny Bench Award National Watch List.
Friday’s game marks the 33rd meeting between South Dakota State and Western Illinois— a series that dates back to a 7-6 SDSU victory on March 31, 2006. Overall, SDSU leads the series, 20-12. The two squads met seven times during the 2014 season, with Western Illinois holding a 4-3 series advantage.
The series will open Friday at 3 p.m. at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium with games at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
