FARGO, N.D. (SDSU) — Dawson Parry drove in four runs and Nic McCay pitched six shutout innings to lead South Dakota State to a 5-1 victory over North Dakota State in the opening game of a three-game Summit League baseball series Friday night at Newman Outdoor Field.

The Jackrabbits, who ended a four-game losing streak, improved to 12-15 overall and 5-4 in league play. NDSU dropped to 7-18 overall and 4-3 in The Summit League.

Parry opened the scoring with a two-run double to right-center with two outs in the top of the third inning that plated Reece Anderson and Jordan Sagedahl. Anderson started the rally by drawing a one-out walk and moved to second on a single by Sagedahl.

McCay continued his strong comeback season by limiting the Bison to two hits while striking out 10 in his six shutout frames. He struck out at least one batter in every inning, while fanning two batters in the first, second, fourth and sixth innings. He walked three and hit two batters while improving to 3-0 on the season.

A sacrifice fly by Parry in the top of the seventh pushed the SDSU lead to 3-0 and a two-out double down the third-base line by Adam Benes moments later drove in Cael Frost for a four-run lead.

Parry came through with another two-out double in the ninth for an insurance run, lacing a pitch over the third-base bag and into the left-field corner to again bring home Sagedahl. Parry and Sagedahl each tallied two of the Jackrabbits’ eight hits.

The Bison ended the shutout bid in the bottom of the ninth against the SDSU bullpen, scoring a run without the benefit of a hit. Alex Clemons recorded two of the Jackrabbits’ 14 strikeouts on the ninght as he came on to close out the victory.

The Bison may have been limited to three hits, but there was plenty of traffic on the bases as the four Jackrabbit pitchers to see mound duty on the night combined to issue six walks and hit another six batters. However, the SDSU pitching staff managed to get the job done in tough situations as NDSU batters went a combined 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position as the Bison stranded 13 runners in the game.

UP NEXT
The two squads are now scheduled to close out their series with a doubleheader Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 p.m.

NOTES

  • SDSU leads the all-time series, 129-82, although the Bison hold a narrow 38-37 lead in Summit League regular season contests since both programs joined the conference in 2008
  • The Jackrabbits improved to 6-2 in series openers this season
  • McCay became the third Jackrabbit pitcher to tally 200 career strikeouts, ending the night with 209 after joining Adam Bray (264 strikeouts from 2012-15) and Trevor Schulte (226 from 1991-94) in the select group
  • McCay reached double figures in strikeouts for the third time in his last four starts and now has 58 K’s in 39 2/3 innings this season
  • Parry took over the team lead in RBIs with 39
  • Anderson reached base safely for the 17th game in a row