WINONA, Minn. – On a picture-perfect day for baseball, the Warriors came away with a four-game series split Sunday afternoon at Loughrey Field. Game one was spoiled by a Southwest Minnesota State walk off three-run homer as the Warriors lost, 7-6. Winona State bounced back in the finale, scattering 19 hits over seven innings in an 18-4 triumph over the Mustangs.
Winona State was the visiting team on the scoreboard but played host once again in the doubleheader after splitting Saturday's games with SMSU.
It didn't take the Warriors long to score in the first inning of game one. Zac Stange led off the ballgame with a single to left and Andrew Pliner followed suit with a single of his own to right field. Sam Kohnle made it three straight singles with a run-scoring hit to give WSU a 1-0 lead. Taylor Field then added Winona State's second run of the inning with an RBI-single.
The Warriors manufactured another run in the third to pad their lead to 3-1. Field doubled to right to start the two-out rally. Tanner Williams then beat out a throw to first for an infield single to extend the inning. The next batter, Chad Herbst, cashed in the run with an RBI-single.
Derek Martin would walk to start the fourth inning and come around to score on a balk to give the Warriors a 4-1 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Mustangs loaded the bases on Winona State starter Dillon Whittaker to start the inning. A wild pitch by the right-hander brought across SMSU's first run of the inning. Whittaker walked the next batter to load the bases once more. The next batter would be Whittaker's last as the Mustangs then made it a 4-3 game. Jackson Stensgard came on in relief and limited the damage, but SMSU not before SMSU tied the game at 4-4.
Winona State regained the lead on another two-out rally in the sixth frame. With runners on first and second, Kohnle drove a ball to left field that was misplayed by the fielder allowing him to reach second and Stange to score to give the Warriors the lead. Pliner then scored on a wild pitch to put Winona State in front 6-4.
Jacob Watzka relieved Stensgard after one out in the sixth inning. He came back out in the seventh in search of the save but was unable to do so. With two on and two out in the bottom of the seventh, SMSU's Connor Johnson took Watzka deep over the right field fence to walk off the Warriors, 7-6.
Austin Savary toed the rubber in the second game and collected his third straight win to improve to 4-0 on the season.
Winona State backed up Savary by scoring in each of the first six innings of the finale.
Once again, the Warriors kicked off the game with two runs in the top of the first inning. Field put Winona State on the board first this time with an RBI-single to left. Williams then walked and Herbst would ground out to the third baseman, scoring Kohnle for the second run of the inning.
Winona State scored three more in the second and one in the third to bring the score to 6-0 after the top half of the third.
The Mustangs broke up Savary's shutout bid in the bottom of the third with all four of their runs to suddenly make it a two-run affair. SMSU was aided by a pair of Warrior errors in the inning which allowed three unearned runs to cross the plate.
Hanging onto a 6-4 lead, the Warrior bats put the game out of reach. The Warriors scored three more in the fourth, two in the fifth, and erupted for seven runs in the sixth inning bringing 12 men to the plate, facing four different Mustang pitchers.
Savary worked out of a sixth inning bases-loaded jam in his final inning of work to end the day with three strikeouts over 6.0 IP.
Parker Holmstrom came in to pitch the seventh and secure the Warriors 18-4 run-rule victory.
With the series split, the Warriors improve to 14-15 (13-9 NSIC) on the season. The Mustangs fall to 11-19 (6-14 NSIC) on the year.
Winona State opens a six-game road stretch on Wednesday with a midweek doubleheader at Minnesota Duluth.
