ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Winona State University was one of the final four teams remaining in the NSIC Baseball Tournament on Saturday afternoon. The eight-seeded Warriors had an uphill battle in the double-elimination tournament after losing in the first round on Thursday, but certainly but the league on notice with their performance over the weekend before finally bowing out to Minot State in an 11-10 loss.
The Warriors and Beavers combined for 34 hits in Saturday's shootout that saw Minot State rally from a 6-0 deficit for the win.
Derek Martin, Tanner Williams and Sam Kohnle each singled to lead off the top of the first inning in the offensive showdown. In total, WSU strung together five straight hits to begin the game with run-scoring singles coming from Chad Herbst and Andrew Pliner. Nick Nalewanski added an RBI-double and Derek Baumgartner drove in the fifth run of the frame.
Minot got on the board with a run in the bottom of the second inning to make it a 6-1 affair before Nalewanski recorded his second RBI of the day in the top of the third to extend the Warrior lead to 7-1.
The Beavers cut their deficit to 7-5 in the bottom of the fourth before the resilient Warrior offense got back to work with some two-out magic in the top of the fifth. Pliner started the rally with a single and Baumgartner chased him home with an RBI-triple. Zac Stange followed with a run-scoring single of his own to push the WSU advantage back to 9-5.
Minot State answered right back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fifth before neither side scored in the sixth inning which stood as the only scoreless frame of the day.
Nalewanski capped his three-hit, three-RBI day with a solo homer in the top of the seventh for the Warriors final run of the tilt. The Beavers would tie the game in the bottom of the inning before pushing across the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth as they scored four unanswered runs for the victory.
Minot State hit five home runs in the comeback win with Darrel Doll connecting on three long balls, including the game-winner in the eighth inning.
Ten different pitchers toed the rubber on the day with senior Brett Herber ultimately suffering the loss. Nicolas Herold was the lone WSU reliever to appear without surrendering a run and the sophomore was named to the All-Tournament Team. Herold allowed just one hit over 4.1 IP of scoreless relief while earning two saves over the weekend.
Winona State's season comes to an end with a record of 26-23 which stands as the Warriors' most wins since the 2014 campaign.
