WINONA, Minn. – The Warrior offense exploded Thursday afternoon as Winona State (7-12, 6-6 NSIC) took the first two games of its series against Minnesota Crookston (10-15, 0-9 NSIC). WSU scored a combined 20 runs in the two games and collected two dozen hits as the Warriors defeated the Golden Eagles 13-5 and 7-4.
Sam Kohnle was a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate in the opener. The redshirt-sophomore also drove in three runs, scored three more, and swiped two stolen bases in the victory.
Tanner Williams he beat out an inning ending double play allowing Andrew Pliner to score as the Warriors struck first in the second inning.
After plating one run in the first frame, the Warriors jumped all over Crookston for eight runs in the third. Kohnle led off the inning with a single and stole second. Taylor field would reach on an error followed by a Williams single that scored Kohnle. Chad Herbst followed that up by reaching on a fielder's choice and eventually made it around to score on a wild pitch. Winona State was up 3-0 at this point and chased Golden Eagle starter Zach Rustad from the game after he walked Kipp Youngquist. The Warriors scored six more runs on four hits the remainder of the inning as they batted around in the order.
Winona State starter Caleb Schoenholz was nearly flawless only giving up three hits through three innings. In the fourth, UMC led the inning off with a triple and came around to score on an error. The Golden Eagles proceeded to plate three more runs in the frame and chased Schoenholz from the mound before he was able to qualify for the win.
Nicolas Herold (1-1) came on in relief and only gave up one run on two hits as proceeded to close out the victory. The Warriors tacked on four more runs for good measure before the ballgame came to an end.
Williams kicked off game two with a solo shot to right field in the second inning, giving the Warriors an early one-run lead. The next couple innings would become a chess match. UMC jumped right back into the game in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI-double to left center, but Winona State answered back in the third as Field found a hole in the left side of the infield, scoring Nick Nalewanski. The Golden Eagles manufactured two runs off of Dillon Whittaker in the fourth to take the lead, 3-2.
Timely hitting in the sixth for the Warriors saw WSU retake the lead from UMC. Youngquist hit a sac fly to left scoring Field to tie the game back up at three. Nalewanski untied the game for the Warriors as he drove in Williams to take the lead for good.
Whittaker worked himself into a bit of a jam in the seventh, leaving the game to Jacob Watzka with two runners in scoring position and one out. The right-hander walked the first batter he faced and gave up one run but ended the inning with a big strikeout holding the Golden Eagles to just one run in the inning.
The Warriors plated two more in the eighth inning and Watzka shut the door in the ninth to complete the Thursday sweep of the Golden Eagles.
Whittaker (3-0) now leads the team with three wins on the season after Thursday's performance. Watzka earned his first save of the year and has now made three straight scoreless appearances (10.1 IP).
Winona State looks to win the series on Friday as the two teams face off in another doubleheader scheduled for 12 p.m. from Loughrey Field.
