Bulldog baseball ends series with South Dakota State

Box Score
Normal- A&M Baseball ended their series with the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State on Sunday afternoon at Bulldog Field.

The Maroon & White opened the scoring when they took a one run lead in the bottom of the first inning. Junior outfielder Brandyn Crutcher singled to left field then stole second base which gave the momentum to the Bulldogs. The leader in homeruns for the Bulldogs, Andrew Utterback, batted in Crutcher for the Maroon & White's first lead of the game.

The Jackrabbits scored their first two runs in the top half of the second inning. In the bottom half of the third A&M added three more runs. Utterback was responsible for a pair of those as he added to his RBI totals. The runs batted in were Crutcher, who crossed the plate for his second run of the day and junior shortstop Julio Nunez who scored after advancing to first on a walk.

South Dakota State would use the rest of the game to add to their run total to eventually grab an 11-4 win.

Leading the Bulldogs was center fielder Brandon Crutcher, who went 3 for 4 on the day with two runs. Utterback, who finished 2 of 3 at the plate, batted in three.

Starting pitcher Benjamin Ryder earned his first loss of the season. In five innings of work Ryder posted two strikeouts but gave up five runs.

As a team the Bulldogs collected eight hits while the pitching staff accounted for seven strikeouts, 11 fly outs and eight ground outs. Junior first basemen Allen Smith account for 10 putouts while junior catcher Dustin Dhanani finished with seven.

Alabama A&M will return to action this Tuesday, February 25, when they face the Tigers of Auburn University, in a midweek game at Auburn. First pitch at Plainsman Park is set for 3 p.m.

For more information on the Alabama A&M athletics, visit aamusports.com. Fans can also find the Bulldogs on Twitter at @aamubulldogs or on Facebook at Facebook.com/Alabama-AM-Bulldogs.

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