SDSU blanks Tommies to tie series
ST. PAUL, Minn. (SDSU) — Caleb Duerr and Dylan Driessen combined to pitch a shutout and Luke Luskey supplied the offense as South Dakota State evened its Summit League baseball series with a 3-0 victory over St. Thomas Friday afternoon at Koch Diamond.
The Jackrabbits improved to 8-25 overall 5-10 in league play. St. Thomas fell to 18-14 overall and 12-4 in The Summit League.
Luskey gave the Jackrabbits the early lead by lining a two-run home run to left field in the top of the first inning. Carter Sintek also scored on Luskey's league-leading 11th round-tripper after leading off the game by reaching on an error.
The Jackrabbits added what would turn out to be the final run of the game in the third inning. Nicholas Werk opened the inning with an infield single and advanced to third base two batters later on a single to center field by Nolan Grawe. That set the table for Luskey, who lifted a sacrifice fly to right field that was deep enough to score Werk.
A freshman from West Fargo, North Dakota, Duerr allowed at least one base runner in every inning as he worked into the seventh inning, but made the pitches when he most needed to in posting his third win of the season. The right-hander struck out three, walked one and hit one batter before exiting with runners at the corners and two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Driessen entered and induced a groundout to third base to end the St. Thomas threat in the seventh, then tossed two more hitless innings to lock down his third save of the season. He struck out three and allowed one hit.
Tanner Recchio and Brigs Richartz each tallied two of St. Thomas' seven hits. The Jackrabbits finished with only four hits in the contest.
St. Thomas starter Walker Retz suffered his first loss of the season despite striking out nine and walking only one in 6 2/3 innings. Kody Dalen added five K's in 2 1/3 innings to finish up for the Tommies.
UP NEXTThe decisive game of the three-game series is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
NOTES
SDSU leads the all-time series, 14-5, although St. Thomas leads the season series, 3-2
The Jackrabbits recorded their first shutout since a 1-0 victory over St. Thomas on March 22, 2024, in a game played in Omaha, Nebraska
Two of Duerr's three wins have come against the Tommies
Driessen has struck out a team-high 34 batters in 25 innings of work this season
Luskey has 12 multi-RBI games this season as he upped his team-leading total to 40
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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