MAUSTON, Wis. – Winona State University bounced back from being swept by St. Cloud on Thursday afternoon with a 6-2 victory to open a three-game weekend series against Southwest Minnesota State on Friday at Woodside Sports Complex. Aaron Mutter turned in his strongest start of the season for WSU while three Warrior relievers slammed the door on the Mustangs.
Mutter (1-1) limited the Mustangs to just one hit over the first five innings of play en route to his first victory of the year. The junior right-hander would go on to allow one run on three hits over 6.0 IP. The bullpen trio of Jacob Watzka, Parker Holmstrom and Nicolas Herold pitched one inning apiece to secure the triumph.
Herold has now made six scoreless appearances and allowed only three hits over 6.1 IP.
With Mutter no-hitting SMSU over the first three frames, the WSU offense got to work by hanging a crooked number on the board in the bottom of the third. Zac Stange, who reached base three times on Friday, started the rally on the receiving end of a hit-by-pitch. Two batters later, the red-hot Tanner Williams roped a run-scoring double to right field. After another Warrior hit-by-pitch, Austin Savary made it a 2-0 ballgame with an RBI-single to left field.
The Mustangs issued four free bases in the inning as back-to-back walks by Chad Herbst and Andrew Pliner yielded another Winona State run. Nick Nalewanski's sac fly capped the inning as the Warriors sent Mutter back to the mound with a 4-0 cushion.
Winona State made the most of the Mustangs' lack of control all day, capitalizing on 10 batters who reached base via walk or HBP.
The Mustang offense manufactured its lone run off Mutter in the top of the sixth during his final inning of work with a pitch count nearing 100 for the day.
Watzka entered the game in the seventh for the Warriors and worked himself out of a potential jam starting a 1-6-3 double play to erase a leadoff walk.
Holmstrom was tasked with the eighth inning as WSU was still holding a 4-1 edge. The senior quickly retried the first two batters he faced, but a bad-hop single extended the inning and eventually led to a run-scoring double to make it a 4-2 affair.
Winona State immediately got that run back and added one more for good measure in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Nathan Loomis singled to lead off the frame and moved into scoring position on a sac bunt by Stange. Loomis then stole third and scored on an errant Mustang throw. Derek Martin followed with a walk and advanced to second with two outs before scampering home on a single by Sam Kohnle that kicked off the shortstop's glove.
Kohnle finished the day 3-for-4 to raise his season batting average to .424.
Winona State improves to 9-8 (3-3 NSIC) with the series-opening win while SMSU falls to 2-9 (1-5 NSIC).
The Warriors and Mustangs are scheduled for a twinbill beginning at 12 p.m. on Saturday afternoon with WSU seeking its to win its second straight weekend series.
