WINONA, Minn. – It was business as usual on Saturday afternoon for No. 21 Winona State University. The only difference was the venue, as the Warriors enjoyed the friendly confines of Maynard R. Johnson Field for the first time this season. Alison Nowak continued to wear out opposing pitchers with a 6-for-7 effort as WSU rolled past Southwest Minnesota State University by scores 9-1 (5 innings) and 6-0.
Winona State improves to 25-5 (10-0 NSIC) with its 10th straight victory.
Jordyn Kleman (13-1) surrendered the lone Mustang run of the day on a solo homer in the top of the first inning in game one and proceeded to one-hit the visiting team over her final 4.2 IP. The junior struck out nine batters in the run-rule shortened affair while registering her team-leading 11th complete game.
In the finale, Liz Pautz (8-2) blanked SMSU over 5.0 IP as her minuscule ERA dropped to a league-leading 0.65. The sophomore allowed just three hits and walked two while striking out seven batters. Alyssa Van Valley tossed the final two innings for WSU to secure the Warriors' ninth shutout of the year.
Alexis Kelsey erased Winona State's 1-0 deficit in the opener with an RBI-single to right field after Kayla Kerkman, Lani Van Zyl and Nowak singled to load the bases with one out. And, while the Warriors stranded the bases loaded in the frame, it was all Winona State from there.
With the bases loaded once again in the bottom of the third, Ann Smolenski roped an opposite-field triple past a diving right fielder to give the Warriors their first lead of the day. Jen Giesey added a squeeze bunt later in the inning to punctuate a four-run frame that saw Winona State pull in front 5-1.
Kelsey picked up her second RBI of the game in the bottom of the fourth and Smolenski tacked on her fourth RBI of the tilt later in the inning as the Warrior lead swelled to 7-1. Giesey led off the fifth and final inning with a double to center and later scored on an RBI-single by Katie Kolb before Van Zyl deposited the game-ending hit into left field to chase home Kolb.
The heart of the Warriors' lineup in Van Zyl, Nowak, Kelsey and Smolenski combined to go 10-for-12 with seven RBI as Winona State out-hit SMSU in the opener, 14-2.
Nowak broke the scoring seal in the finale with a double down the left field line to score Kolb who led off the bottom of the first inning with a bunt single. The Mustangs committed four errors in game two which allowed a pair of unearned runs to cross the plate with the first of those coming back to haunt SMSU in the second inning.
In the bottom of the third, Kelsey launched her third homer in the last five games – a two-run blast to pad the WSU lead to 4-0. Nowak added an RBI-single in the fourth inning and Van Zyl capped the scoring with an RBI-double in the sixth frame.
The Warriors return to action on their home field on Saturday afternoon with a twinbill scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. against the University of Sioux Falls.
