JACKS BEGIN SPRING BREAK TRIP AT KANSAS STATE

First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. The game will be televised through the ESPN+ streaming platform.

SDSU enters the week with a 5-10 overall record and returns to action against power conference opponents after facing the likes of Nebraska, Northwestern and Minnesota last week. The Jackrabbits posted a 1-2 record at the Cambria Classic last weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Kansas State, meanwhile, is off to a 12-4 start and has won six games in a row. The Wildcats swept a three-game home series from SIU-Edwardsville this past weekend before recording a 7-5 home victory over Wichita State Tuesday night.

From Manhattan, the Jackrabbits will complete their Spring Break road trip with five games in the state of Oklahoma — three at Summit League rival Oral Roberts (March-13-15) and two at Oklahoma State (March 17-18).

Updates of Jackrabbit baseball will be available throughout the week via X/Twitter (@GoJacksBaseball) and through GoJacks.com.

 

THE SERIES: Wednesday’s game between the Jackrabbits and Kansas State will mark their 15th meeting on the baseball diamond in a series that dates back to 1981.

K-State holds a 13-1 series advantage that includes a 16-5 victory on March 13, 2024, in the most recent meeting between the two programs.

The Jackrabbits started the 2024 game with a bang when cleanup hitter Dawson Parry connected on a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning. That lead was short-lived, however, as Kansas State scored three times in the home half of the first inning and put together an 11-run second inning.

Chuck Ingram led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run and added a two-run triple in the second inning for the Wildcats. Brady Day drove in a pair of runs in the second inning en route to a four-RBI performance.

SDSU’s lone victory in the series came on March 10, 2020, with a 4-0 shutout on the Wildcats’ home field. The Wildcats came roaring back for a 10-0 victory the next night.

Four pitchers combined on the eight-hit shutout by the Jackrabbits. Eli Sundquist worked the first three innings, followed by two innings each from Cody Carlson, Nate Holliday and Brett Mogen.

The games played in 2020 proved to be the final games of that season for both teams as college athletics were shut down later that week due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

SHORT HOPS: Following are some more quick notes regarding the South Dakota State baseball team heading into this Wednesday’s game at Kansas State:

Most recently, right-hander Sam Schlecht was honored Tuesday as the Kwik Star Summit League Peak Pitcher of the Week for his performance in a Feb. 28 victory at Central Arkansas.

A senior from Maple Grove, Minnesota, Schlecht carried a shutout into the sixth inning, stretching his scoreless innings streak to 10 before giving up a two-run home run. He struck out a season-high seven batters, walked only one and scattered four hits in improving to 2-1 on the season as the Jackrabbits held on for an 8-5 victory.

The previous week, outfielder Carter Taylor was named the Kwik Star Summit League Baseball Peak Performer of the Week after helping lead the Jackrabbits to three wins.

A freshman from Missoula, Montana, Taylor batted .522 (12-for-22) over five games and notched multiple hits in four of those contests. In his first career start, Feb. 17 at Incarnate Word, he went 4-for-6, including hitting his first collegiate home, driving in two runs and scoring twice in a 19-11 Jackrabbit victory. The following day he closed the series with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate that included three RBIs. Taylor, who hit safely in all five games last week to extend his overall hitting streak to six games, tallied two hits in both the Feb. 20 series opener and Feb. 22 finale at Tarleton State.

For the week, his totals included four runs scored, five RBIs, a .696 slugging percentage and a .577 on-base percentage.

 

PRESEASON POLL: South Dakota State has been picked to finish fourth in the upcoming Summit League baseball race, according to a preseason poll conducted among the league’s six head coaches and announced Feb. 11.

The Jackrabbits totaled 12 points in the poll and are coming off a 2025 campaign in which they compiled a 16-36 overall record, including a 12-18 mark in The Summit League. SDSU returned to the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship, marking the 14th time in 16 years of Division I eligibility that the Jackrabbits qualified for the double-elimination tournament.

Oral Roberts earned the top spot in the preseason poll with 24 points and four first-place votes. Omaha received the other two first-place votes and tied with defending regular season champion St. Thomas for second place in the survey with 19 points.

North Dakota State (11 points) and Northern Colorado (6 points) rounded out the poll.

The Jackrabbits begin Summit League play March 13-15 with a three-game series at Oral Roberts.

The top four teams in league play will advance to the Summit League Baseball Championship May 20-23 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

In addition to the preseason poll, Jackrabbit first baseman Luke Luskey was named a Summit League Player to Watch and Ty Madison was selected as a Summit League Pitcher to Watch.

Luskey, a junior from Green Isle, Minnesota, has earned second-team all-Summit League honors each of the last two seasons. In 2025, he led the league with 14 home runs despite missing the final 12 games of the season due to injury. Luskey also paced the Jackrabbits with 52 runs batted in and a .691 slugging percentage while batting .336.

A senior from Omaha, Madison began the 2025 season in the starting rotation before moving to the bullpen. He made a team-high 22 appearances, striking out 26 batters in 30 innings and posting a 2-2 record.

 

SUMMIT LEAGUE SUCCESS: South Dakota State has been a consistent winner in The Summit League since it became a league member in 2008. Now in its 19th season as a member of The Summit League, the Jackrabbits have compiled a 239-210 (.532 winning percentage) record in regular season conference games.

SDSU has posted a .500 or better record in league play 10 times and has qualified for the four-team postseason tournament 14 out of the 16 years it has been eligible (no tournament in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic).

The Jackrabbits shared a Summit League regular season title in 2010 and won the league’s postseason tournament in 2013.

 

COACH BISHOP: Rob Bishop, who has guided college baseball teams to more than 700 victories, was named head baseball coach at South Dakota State University on Aug. 1, 2016. Bishop is the ninth head coach in program history and the fourth in the Division I era of Jackrabbit baseball.

Through nine-plus seasons with the Jackrabbits, Bishop holds a 179-248 record at SDSU, including a 109-109 mark in Summit League regular season games. He also has led the Jackrabbits to the four-team Summit League Baseball Championship seven times, highlighted by finals appearances on two occasions — in 2018 and 2023.

The 2023 squad set a school record with 89 home runs in 52 games. SDSU played only one true home game but managed a 24-28 overall record and a winning season in Summit League play with a 13-11 mark. That momentum carried over to the four-team league postseason tournament, where the Jackrabbits made a run to the title game.

SDSU hit a Summit League-best 80 home runs in 2024 and also led the circuit with a .492 slugging percentage.

Overall, Bishop holds a 728-570-1 record (.561 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach. He earned his 700th career victory in the Jackrabbits’ 11-7 win at North Dakota State on April 6, 2024.

Individually, Jackrabbit players have been honored as all-Summit League performers 48 times during Bishop’s tenure, including seven all-league selections in 2025.

Prior to becoming head coach at SDSU, Bishop spent six years at NCAA Division II member Montana State University-Billings, where he led the Yellowjackets to back-to-back Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season titles in 2015 and 2016, attaining the program’s first-ever 30-win season with a 30-20 record in 2016.

Previously, Bishop spent 10 years at Miles City Community College in Montana, where his teams won MonDak conference championships every year. His squads also claimed five consecutive junior college region titles and a Northwest District championship in 2007 to advance to the NJCAA Division II College World Series.

Bishop’s teams won at least 30 games in all 10 seasons, including four with 40 wins. He ended his tenure at Miles City with a 377-151 overall record. He also served as athletic director the last five years of his tenure at Miles City.

Bishop served as a graduate assistant at SDSU under head coach Mark Ekeland during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. In his first year as a head coach, Bishop led Huron University to the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference title in 2000 with a 38-18 record.

A 1994 graduate of Jamestown College, Bishop earned NAIA All-America honors during the 1992 and 1994 seasons as an infielder.

 

THE ROSTER: The 2025 SDSU baseball roster features 34 players from 10 different states and one foreign country (Australia). Of the 34 players, 13 are from Minnesota, five are from Nebraska and South Dakota, three are Iowa natives and two hail from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington. Arizona and Wyoming are represented by one player each.

By class, one is a graduate transfer, three are seniors and nine are juniors. The sophomore class consists of 10 players and there is one redshirt freshmen, while 10 are incoming freshmen.

 

ON DECK: The Jackrabbits move on to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to open Summit League play against defending regular season co-champion Oral Roberts. The three-game series is scheduled to get under way at 6 p.m. Friday at Chapman Park on the ORU campus. Games Saturday and Sunday are slated for respective 2 and 1 p.m. starts.

All three games will be available for viewing through the Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus.

SDSU will complete its Spring Break road trip with games March 17-18 at Oklahoma State.

The Jackrabbits’ home opener is set for Friday, March 20 against North Dakota State.