ST. CLOUD, MINN. – No. 10 Winona State University was three outs away from suffering its first sweep of the season on Friday afternoon at St. Cloud State. The Warriors proved their mettle though with a come-from-behind win in the doubleheader finale over the Huskies in extra innings, 3-2.
The Warriors entered the day riding high off a doubleheader sweep of Mankato on Thursday but fell flat in game one at St. Cloud with a 3-1 loss. Winona State then found itself trialing the Huskies in game two, 1-0, after five innings.
A two-out double by McKenna Larsen in the sixth inning of the finale finally kick-started the Warrior offense. Freshman Rylee Stout followed with a single up the middle to chase home pinch runner Mariah Schultz to tie the ballgame at 1-1.
The Huskies answered quickly with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth and suddenly had the Warriors on the brink of a sweep entering the final frame.
Jamee Schleis reached base the hard way with a hit-by-pitch, but it was exactly what Winona needed to open the top of the seventh. Pinch runner Kristina Ahlers moved to second on a bunt by Sam McLean that yielded no outs for the Huskies and Katelyn Kolb walked to load the bases for WSU. Two batters later, Lani Van Zyl knotted the score at 2-2 on sacrifice fly.
After Jordyn Kleman pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh, the Warriors again put together a two-out rally to plate the game-winning run. McLean's fielder's choice scored Stout to give Winona its first lead of the game, 3-2.
Kleman (13-1) sat the Huskies down in order in the bottom of the eighth to pick up the win and salvage a hard-earned split for the Warriors. The sophomore allowed two runs on just five hits over 8.0 IP while striking out 12 batters.
In game one, it was the Warriors who were limited to just five hits in the 3-1 loss. Freshman Ann Smolenski connected on her second home run of the season for Winona's lone run in the ballgame.
St. Cloud plated all three of its runs in the third inning off McKenna Larsen and was aided by a pair of Warrior errors. Larsen (10-4) scattered seven hits over 6.0 IP and allowed three runs (one earned) in the loss.
Winona State now sits in a tie for first place with Augustana in the NSIC standings at 31-5 (10-2 NSIC). St. Cloud concludes the day with a record of 24-14 (10-7 NSIC).
The Warriors are scheduled to return to the Husky Dome in St. Cloud on Sunday night to take on Minnesota Duluth (29-8, 11-3 NSIC). Game times are scheduled for 6/8 p.m.
