CROOKSTON, Minn. – Chase Blazier went the distance for the Winona State baseball team and Jesus Cazares hit a three-run homer to propel the Warrior offense in an series-opening split with Minnesota Crookston. The Warriors won the first game 12-1, while dropping game two by a score of 4-2.
 
In the first game, the Warriors jumped up early on the Golden Eagles. With two outs in the top of the first, Jordan Plamann singled home Cazares from second to give Winona State the early 1-0 lead.
 
Minnesota Crookston responded in the bottom of the second, scoring Kenny Perez on an RBI ground out by Jesse Jennings to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The teams would remain even until the top of the fifth when the Winona State offense exploded for nine runs in the frame. The scoring started with Cazares blasting a three-run homer to left field to give the Warriors the lead back at 4-1.
 
Five batters later with the bases loaded, Nathan Krause was hit by a pitch to score Travis Evanson the easy way to make it a 5-1 game. Taylor Field made it 6-1 on an RBI single to right and Kipp Youngquist added two more on a two RBI single to left field to stretch the lead to 8-1. Field scored later in the frame on a wild pitch and Evanson added another on an RBI single to stretch the lead to 10-1.
 
The Warriors added two more insurance runs in the top of the sixth, taking advantage of some costly Golden Eagles' miscues. Krause knocked in Tyler Nehring on an error by UMC third baseman Patrick Amerson and Field added another on a sacrifice fly to right field to score Mitch Heid and make it a 12-1 lead.
 
The run production was more than enough to get Blazier his second win of the season. Blazier improved to 2-3, pitching a complete seven-inning game, giving up just one unearned run on nine hits with no walks while striking out four.
 
Cazares led the Warrior bats, going 2-for-3 with a homer, three RBIs and scored two runs while drawing two walks. Evanson also tallied a three-hit game, going 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
 
As a team, Winona State scored 12 runs on 14 hits with an error, while holding the Golden Eagles to one run on nine hits with two errors.
 
In the second game, Minnesota Crookston jumped up 1-0 in the bottom of the second on an RBI ground out by Kinsella, scoring Haggstrom from third.
 
The Golden Eagles added three more runs in the bottom of the third; adding a two RBI double and an RBI single to stretch UMC's lead to 4-0.
 
The Warriors rallied in the top of the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, Heid knocked a single that scored Cazares and Plamann to cut the deficit in half at 4-2.
 
However, Winona State would only get two base runners in the final three innings of the game and the Golden Eagles closed out the second game with the 4-2 victory.
 
Hayden Krimmer took the loss for the Warriors, dropping to 2-3 on the season after pitching 3 1/3 innings, giving up four runs with only one earned on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts.
 
Scott Freiburger had a strong showing out of the bullpen, pitching 4 2/3 shutout innings, only allowing one hit with no walks and six strikeouts.
 
Heid led the WSU offense, going 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Plamann also went 2-for-3 with a run scored and Cazares went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
 
With the split, Winona State moves to 9-15 on the season and 7-5 in NSIC play. The Warriors will continue their weekend series with the Golden Eagles on Saturday with the first game starting at noon.