WINONA, Minn. - The Winona State baseball team closed out its weekend series with a split against the University of Mary on a cold, blustery day at Loughrey Field. The Warriors brought the power ball in the first game, crushing five home runs in an 18-7 win in the first game of the doubleheader, but dropped the second game 7-5.
 
In the first game, Mary jumped up 1-0 in the first, but Winona State rebounded in the second with a three-run blast by Mitch Heid to make it 3-1. Winona State added two more runs on a fielding error by the right fielder that scored both Michael Hommes and Kipp Youngquist to expand the Warrior advantage to 5-1.
 
Winona State added three more runs in the third inning on a Taylor Field home run that made it 8-1. Jordan Plamann added a solo blast in the fourth inning to make it 9-1 after four innings.
 
The Warriors blew the game wide open in the fifth, scoring eight runs in the inning. The scoring started on a Field RBI single that scored Kipp Youngquist to make it a 10-1 game.
 
Winona State expanded the lead to 13-1 on a Jesus Cazares three-run home run to right field that just carried over the right field fence into Maxwell Field.
 
Mitch Voter even got in on the action with a pinch-hit RBI double that scored Plamann and the Warriors kept adding to it on run scoring hits by Heid, Youngquist, and Field to stretch the lead to 17-1 after five innings.
 
Matt Bonestroo entered in relief of Lucas Crimmins in the sixth inning and struggled right away. Bonestroo gave up a leadoff home run, hit the next batter with a pitch, and then gave up a deep two-run homer with the first three hitters of the inning to cut the Warrior lead to 17-4. Bonestroo rebounded by getting the next three batters out.
 
Winona State added yet another insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by Travis Evanson, his fifth of the year, expanding the Warrior lead to 18-4.
 
The Marauders would get three more runs in the top of the seventh, but would climb no closer than 11 in an 18-7 win over the University of Mary.
 
Field led the Warrior offense, going 3-for-5 with four RBIs and three runs scored. Youngquist put together a 4-for-4 game from the plate with four runs scored and an RBI. Heid went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored and Cazares added three RBIs and a run on a 1-for-2 day as well.
 
Crimmins picked up his first win for the Warriors, pitching five innings and giving up just one earned run on five hits with no walks with six strikeouts.
The Warriors on the day scored 18 runs on 17 hits with no errors while holding the Marauders to just seven runs on 12 hits with two errors.
 
Winona State would run into some tough luck in the second game of the doubleheader as the Marauders jumped out early on Warrior starting pitcher Mitch Stalsberg.
 
Stalsberg gave up an RBI double that scored two runs in the second inning, allowing Mary to take an early 2-0 lead. The Warriors did get a run back in the bottom frame, Field RBI single to left that scored Heid to make it 2-1.
 
However, Stalsberg ran into trouble in the third inning when he gave up a three-run blast to Mary's Cory Dixon to stretch the Marauder lead to 5-1.
 
The Marauders added insurance runs in the sixth inning on a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 7-1 Mary lead.
 
The Warriors chipped back with a Hommes RBI single that scored Nathan Krause to make it 7-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Both teams would struggle to score base runners the rest of the way until the bottom of the ninth.
 
Winona State did manage to put together a solid rally on a Plamann RBI double that scored Cazares, and Tyler Nehring hit an RBI ground out to short that scored Evanson to make it 7-4 with two outs. Heid added another RBI single, scoring Plamann and cutting the deficit to 7-5.
 
The Warriors did get the tying run to the plate, but Krause flied out to deep right field to put the game away and allow the Marauders to walk away with the win in the series finale.
 
Despite only scoring five runs, the Warrior offense managed to put the ball in-play, registering 16 hits on the game, but the Marauders were efficient with the power ball, scoring seven runs on seven hits with no errors.
 
The Winona State offense was led by Heid, going 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Hommes also had a solid game at the plate, going 3-for-5 with an RBI.
 
Stalsberg picked up the loss for the Warriors, dropping to 0-1 on the season. Stalsberg pitched five innings and gave up five runs on five hits with four walks, but did record 11 strikeouts.
 
With the two wins on Saturday, and the split on Sunday, the Warriors took three of four games against the Marauders and improved to 7-13 on the season, moving to 5-3 in NSIC play. Winona State will close out its 10-game homestand on Tuesday when it welcomes Southwest Minnesota State for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. at Loughrey Field.