MINNEAPOLIS — The South Dakota State baseball team — the four-seed in a four-team tournament — is one win away from the NCAA tournament, as their 2-1 win over third-seeded Northern Colorado on Thursday at Siebert Field gave the Jackrabbits a 2-0 record in the double-elimination Summit League tournament and sending them to the championship round.
The Jacks now await Friday’s winner of UNC and top-seeded Oral Roberts. The Jacks will face that team on Saturday, and whoever gets the Jacks will have to beat them twice. SDSU is looking for the second NCAA berth in their D1 history, the last coming in 2013, when Oral Roberts was not a Summit League member.
Freshman Kaden Rylance took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, ultimately combining with Ty Madison on a two-hitter for the Jacks. Rylance (4-3) went six innings, allowing a run on a hit with two walks and five strikeouts, while Madison worked the final three innings allowing just one hit and whiffing two for his third save and second in as many days.
“I didn’t have 2-1 on my bingo card but our guys played with tons of toughness on defense and Kaden Rylance and Ty Madison just held those guys down,” said Jacks coach Rob Bishop. “They got a lot of leadoff guys out and put us in a really good spot.”
The Jacks (23-30) got their two runs on an RBI-double from Owen Siegert in the third, and a Bears throwing error in the fourth that scored Nate Wachter after he doubled. Jake Storey allowed two runs (one earned) in six innings for the Bears in taking the loss.
SDSU baseball coach Rob Bishop has the Jackrabbits one win from the Summit League championship and an NCAA tournament berth.
Matt Zimmer/Sioux Falls Live
Pitching has been the key for SDSU, and they still haven’t used reigning conference pitcher of the week Drew McDowell, who has not allowed a hit in his last 12 innings across two starts. The Jacks had an ERA of nearly 7.50 coming into the tournament and have posted a 2.00 mark in the first two games. Madison said throwing strikes and relying on defense has been the key.
“Just get ahead strike one,” Madison said. “(The SDSU fielders) make every play behind me so its easy to go out there and fill up the strike zone and put it in play.”
This marks the first time SDSU has started the Summit League tournament with consecutive wins. They last played in the conference tournament championship in 2023. The last 4-seed to win the Summit League baseball tournament was North Dakota State in 2014.
Saturday’s first game is set for 1 p.m. at Siebert Field.
“We’ve still got a ton of work to do,” Bishop said. “These two teams that are left are both really really good teams that have won a lot of games, this year and previous years. We’re just gonna keep our blinders on, enjoy the time off, come back Saturday and hopefully play just one game.”
Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.