WINONA, Minn. – Senior first baseman Travis Evanson highlighted a day of timely hitting for the Winona State baseball team as the Warriors got a pair of comeback victories, 5-3 and 5-4, over Wayne State Wednesday afternoon at Loughrey Field.
 
Evanson hit a three-run walk-off blast in the bottom of the ninth of the second game while down 4-2 with two outs to give the Warriors the 5-4 victory. Winona State catcher Nathan Krause also came up with a clutch home run in the first game, hitting a three-run homer while down a run in the bottom of the sixth to help the Warriors to a 5-3 victory in seven innings.
 
In the first game, Winona State jumped on the board first, taking advantage of a couple of Wayne State errors. After Andrew Geislinger reached on a throwing error and Jesus Cazares walked, Jordan Plamann scored Geislinger from second on a throwing error by Wildcats second baseman Aaron Krier to give the Warriors an early 1-0 advantage.
 
The Warriors held the lead until the fourth inning, when the Wildcats took a 2-1 lead on a deep two-run home run to deep center field by Nathan Ackerman.
 
Winona State was able to tie the game up bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of another Wildcats throwing error. With runners at first and second, Tyler Nehring grounded a ball to the shortstop for a fielder's choice out, but the second baseman threw wide of first trying to get the double play, scoring Kipp Youngquist and making it a 2-2 game.
 
In the top of the sixth inning, Wayne State's designated hitter Quinn McGill gave the Wildcats the lead back with an RBI double off the right field fence to make it a 3-2 advantage.
 
With the Warriors down to two outs and runners on second and third, Krause delivered the decisive hit. He smacked a three-run home run on a line drive that just cleared the left field fence to give Winona State the 5-3 lead.
 
Winona State closer Mitch Voter came in to close out the top of the seventh, striking out two batters, including the tying runner at the plate to give the Warriors the victory.
 
The Warriors scored their five runs on six hits and an error, while holding the Wildcats to three runs on five hits with three errors.
 
Krause led the WSU offense, going 2-for-3 with a homer, three RBIs and a run scored. Mitch Heid and Youngquist also went 2-for-3 in the game as well.
 
Jay Voter picked up a solid no-decision as the Warrior starter. Jay Voter pitched five innings, giving up two earned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out six. Josh Nielsen picked up the victory, pitching one inning of relief and giving up one earned on two hits.
 
Mitch Voter picked up his third save of the season, giving up no runs on no hits while striking out two batters.
 
The second game featured very little offense for the Warriors until late in the game, but came away with some timely hitting.
 
The Wildcats got up first on the Warriors, as Wayne State was able to take advantage of two WSU errors in the first inning. With runners at first and third and two outs, Wayne State designated hitter John Roberts hit a single that scored a run to put the Wildcats up 1-0.
 
WSC scored another run on a Youngquist fielding error that added another run and Albert Johnson added one more on an RBI single to put the Warriors into an early 3-0 hole.
 
Roberts provided an insurance run in the sixth inning on another RBI single that scored Ackerman to expand the Wayne State lead to 4-0.
 
The Winona State offense struggled throughout to advance base runners. The Warriors had 10 hits through the first eight innings. The Warriors had the bases loaded in the sixth inning with one out, but could not drive any runners in.
 
Winona State was held scoreless until the game reached the bottom of the ninth. Taylor Field led off the inning with a single and two batters later, Youngquist singled to put runners at the corners.
 
Two batters later, Nehring hit a hard ground ball to the shortstop that was muffed by Wayne State shortstop Brandon Fowler, scoring Field and making it a 4-1 game. Cazares added an RBI single on a ground ball up the middle to cut the deficit to 4-2 and bringing up Evanson.
 
Wayne State made a pitching change to try to handle WSU's big righty, but it was all for not. On a 2-0 count, Evanson drove a pitch down the middle to deep center field, clearing the fence and giving the Warriors the walk-off 5-4 victory.
 
Winona State scored their five runs on 14 hits with three errors while holding Wayne State to four runs on five hits with two errors.
 
Evanson led three Warrior batters with three hits. Evanson went 3-for-5 with a home run three RBIs and a run scored. Both Plamann and Youngquist had a solid day from the plate, both going 3-for-4 in the game.
 
Will Lundquist put together a solid start, pitching seven innings and giving up four runs, two earned on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
 
Scott Freiburger picked up the win in relief, pitching two scoreless innings, giving up just a hit and a walk while recording four strikeouts.
 
With the sweep, Winona State improved to 13-15 on the season and moved to 11-5 in NSIC play. After the victories, the Warriors are currently sitting in third in the conference, just behind St. Cloud State and Minnesota State for the conference lead.
 
The Warriors will head back on the road to play a weekend doubleheader against Minnesota Duluth on Saturday and Sunday, with first pitches at 1:30 p.m. and noon, respectively.