March 7, 2019
PINEVILLE, La. – Dakota State (S.D.) led for seven-and-half innings Thursday evening over NCAA Division III Louisiana College at Billy Allgood Field. The Trojans shut down the Wildcats and led 6-0 through the bottom eighth inning. The Wildcats used a furious comeback by scoring eight runs with two outs in the bottom eighth, completing a comeback to defeat the Trojans by the score of 8-6.
Dakota State fell to 2-8 overall record and wrapped up their week-long Louisiana trip with a 2-4 record. Louisiana College is 7-5 overall record after the victory.
"This team right now is light years ahead of schedule in this rebuild," said DSU baseball head coach Geoff Schaab. "What could have been a 5-1 trip comes from one missed pitch, one missed ground ball or one missed opportunity with runners on base. We learned a lot from these games and are simply going to have to battle to finish. I'm very proud of these men."
After a scoreless first inning, DSU plated three runs in the top second to grab the first lead of the game. Samuel Drummond was hit-by-pitch to lead off the inning. Marcos Alvarez hit a single and advanced Drummond to second base. Ryan Jackovich recorded a sacrifice bunt to advance Drummond to third and Alvarez to second base.
Chris Burke drilled an RBI double to score Drummond to give Trojans a 1-0 lead in the top second frame (Alvarez advanced to third). Noah Hammond followed up with an RBI single to score Alvarez, extending DSU's lead to 2-0 (Burke advanced to third). Adrian Butrimas was hit-by-pitch to set up a bases loaded situation with one out for the Trojans.
Jarrett Plunkett produced an RBI sacrifice fly to score Burke to give Dakota State a 3-0 lead in the top second.
The Trojans made it 4-0 in the top fourth inning, thanks to Plunkett's RBI single to score Butrimas who hit a two-out single and advanced to second caused by LC's defensive error.
Jalen Boyd led off with a double in the top fifth inning. He advanced to third base caused by Wildcats' defensive interference. Drummond hit an RBI single to score Boyd to widen DSU's lead to 5-0.
Dakota State made it 6-0 in the top seventh inning caused by Louisiana College's defensive error.
The Wildcats snapped their seven innings scoreless drought by exploding for eight runs in the bottom eighth, all by two outs. Clayton Noakes hit a double with one out. The next batter recorded the second out of the bottom eight, hitting a line-out to center field.
Louisiana College had nine straight batters reaching safely on base, producing eight runs to overtake an 8-6 lead. The scoring surge kicked off with back-to-back doubles by Deauton Delgado and C. Vandergrift, followed by a total of five singles and two walks.
Dakota State could not convert their scoring chances to rally back in the final inning, leaving a runner on second base.
Drummond, Alvarez and Butrimas each collected two hits for DSU's offense. Plunkett, Keaton Hoeke, Boyd, Burke and Hammond each had a hit. Plunkett recorded two RBIs. Drummond, Burke and Hammond each had an RBI.
Noakes led the Wildcats by going 3-of-4 at the plate with two doubles, a single and recorded an RBI. Brady Atkins, Dane Pedersen and Vandergrift each had two hits. Johnson had two RBIs.
Louisiana College outhit Dakota State 12-11 in the game, despite recording just four hits for the first four innings. The Wildcats left eight runners on base compared to the Trojans seven runners left on base.
Brett Sanchez started the game on the pitching mound for DSU. He worked for 7 2/3 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits. He struck out nine LC's batters. Trey Randel (L, 1-2) recorded the loss in relief, giving up three runs on four hits in the eighth inning. Ryan Peterson worked for the final out of the eighth inning.
Blayne Haro worked the first 1 1/3 innings for Louisiana College. He gave up three runs on three hits. Gerald Groue tossed five innings in relief, yielding the Trojans to two runs (one unearned) on six hits. He struck out five DSU's batters. Caleb Prejean recorded the win after pitching 1 2/3 innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits. He registered three strikeouts.
Dakota State was originally scheduled to play home-and-away contests with Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) on Monday and Tuesday, but approaching winter storm had prompted to cancel the series.
DSU awaits until their next scheduled game on Tuesday, March 19 as they visit Briar Cliff (Iowa) in a non-conference contest. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Bishop Mueller Field in Sioux City, Iowa.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
