WINONA, Minn. – Seniors Travis Evanson, Jordan Plamann, and Scott Freiburger made the most of their final games at Loughrey Field as the Warriors came away with a split against Upper Iowa on Wednesday. Winona State (20-25, 18-14 NSIC) bounced back with an 8-3 game two victory after dropping the first game 5-4.
 
Plamann went a combined 4-for-9 between the two games, Evanson went 3-for-5 with a run scored in the second game and Freiburger pitched a scoreless inning of relief in their final games on Winona State's home turf.
 
In the first game, Upper Iowa jumped up on Winona State in the top of the first on an RBI double to take the early 1-0 lead.
 
The Warriors managed to tie the game up in the bottom of the first on an RBI double to right center by Jesus Cazares, scoring Tyler Nehring to make it a 1-1 ballgame.
 
In the bottom of the third, Winona State took the lead on an RBI triple by Plamann, scoring Andrew Geislinger to bring the score to 2-1. In the next at-bat, Nehring made it 3-1, driving in Plamann on an RBI single to left.
 
However, WSU starter Jay Voter ran into trouble in the fifth inning, as the Peacocks put together a big four-run inning to take a 5-3 lead.
 
Winona State reliever Josh Nielsen came in with two outs and Warrior catcher Nathan Krause was able to pick off the runner at second getting too far off the base to get out of even more trouble in the inning.
 
Winona State managed to get a run back on the bottom of the fifth on a Plamann RBI single to left to cut the Upper Iowa lead to 5-4.
 
Nielsen was able to keep the Peacocks off the board the final two innings to keep the Warriors in the game, but WSU couldn't muster any runs and Upper Iowa came away with the victory in game one.
 
Voter took the loss for the Warriors, dropping to 2-3 on the season after giving up five runs, four earned runs on nine hits with no walks and a strikeout in 4 2/3 innings.
 
Geislinger, Plamann, Nehring, and Cazares all had two hits for the Warriors, with Plamann being the big run producer with a 2-for-4 game with two RBIs and a run scored.
 
In the second game, the Warriors found themselves down early after WSU starting pitcher Hayden Krimmer gave up a towering three-run home run that went over the right center field press box to give Upper Iowa the early 3-0 lead in the first inning.
 
However, Winona State rallied with a big four-run fourth inning. WSU started off the scoring with a Geislinger RBI single to center field, scoring Michael Hommes to cut the deficit to 3-1.
 
Later in the inning, Cazares hit a deep flyball to right field that went off the right field fence for a single. As Nehring advanced to third, the Peacocks threw the ball away, allowing Nehring to score and Cazares to advance to third, making it a 3-2 ballgame.
 
Mitchell Heid tied the game up at 3-3 on a deep line drive to center that was caught, but scored Cazares from third for a sacrifice fly. Two batters later, Taylor Field gave the Warriors the lead on a single to third, beating out the third baseman's throw and scoring Evanson from third base to make it a 4-3 game.
 
Winona State added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI fielder's choice groundout by Cazares and another deep Heid sacrifice fly, expanding the lead to 6-3.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, the Warriors added two more insurance runs. The first came on a deep solo blast to right center field by Hommes to lead off the inning. The second run came on a Cazares RBI single to right center, scoring Nehring to stretch the lead to 8-3.
 
WSU's pitching finished the game strong, as Krimmer lasted seven innings and both Freiburger and Mitch Voter each pitched scoreless innings in relief to help the Warriors seal the 8-3 victory.
 
Krimmer got the win for the Warriors, improving to 3-5 on the season after giving up just three runs on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Krimmer pitched six scoreless innings and gave up just three hits after his three-run first inning.
 
The Warriors as a team recorded 17 hits and three batters each had three hits. Field went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored as well as Cazares went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored to go with Evanson's three-hit game.
 
Winona State will close out its season on the road, as they will travel for a weekend series to take on No. 8 Minnesota State (37-4, 27-3 NSIC), the second-ranked team in the Central Region. The Warriors will open up the four-game series with the Mavericks on Friday with the first pitch at 1:30 p.m. at the MSU Baseball Complex.