Winona, Minn. - The Winona State University baseball team, having won their last six contests, will take on Wayne State College (10-14, 9-11 NSIC) Wednesday, April 21 on the road in Wayne, Neb.
First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 1:30pm at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex.
Winona State (15-10 / 12-8 NSIC) will face a WSC squad that is coming off a series against the University of Sioux Falls in which WSC dropped two out of three contests to the Cougars. The Wildcats have not played at home since the weekend of March 27-28, when they split four games with Southwest Minnesota State, a team the Warriors swept earlier this year.
Head coach
Kyle Poock and his team are currently fifth in the NSIC baseball standings, while Wayne State is tied for ninth with Upper Iowa. The Warriors and Wildcats have had a highly competitive history over their last 15 games, with WSU enjoying a slight advantage at eight wins and seven losses dating back to April 25, 2012. In that time frame, neither team has won more than two consecutive games.
Additionally, on Saturday, April 24, the Winona State baseball program will host an alumni event in conjunction with the WSU doubleheader against Augustana University.
With a tip of the Warrior helmet to Winona State teams from over the years, HBC sports director Justin Barrientos dusted off the post-game press conference from the historic 2011 WSU NCAA Division II World Series run. In that year, Winona State finished 42-18 overall, won the NCAA regional and finished second in the nation, bowing out to the University of West Florida, 12-2 after claiming wins over Central Missouri State, Mount Olive and Southern Connecticut State. Watch the post-tournament press conference
at this link.
On the mound:
In a 15-5 loss to the University of Sioux Falls on April 17, the Wildcats used seven pitchers in the contest. However, WSC's staff rebounded the next day, using just two arms, Ryan Obrecht and Andrew Staebell, in a close 4-3 loss to the Cougars. Overall, Obrecht has earned three wins on the year to lead Wayne State, while Staebell has the most appearances (9), all in relief efforts for the Wildcats.
The Winona State pitching staff has performed well as of late, with
Bailey Banaszynski,
Cameron Kramer and
Austin Savary each going deep into contests they started and that were won by the Warriors. The WSU bullpen has also been the difference in several close games, with
Nicolas Herold earning five saves to lead the team. Herold has notched strikeouts on 11 of the last 12 outs he has recorded. Additionally, freshman
Peter Tveite took the hill against both Southwest Minnesota State and Minot State recently and has not conceded a hit in three and one-third innings of relief work.
With one week's worth of rest on the Warrior arms, Winona State heads to Wayne State with a strong arsenal of pitching options.
At the plate and on the run:
The Wildcat offense is led by Alex Logelin, who is hitting .429 on the year. Additionally, Bryce Bisenius is hitting an impressive .368 while also leading his team in total at-bats at 87. Bisenious has eight home runs so far this season, tied with four other NSIC hitters for tops in that category. On the base paths, Andrew Hanson has yet to be thrown out attempting a steal, at a perfect 14-for-14 in stolen bases, while teammate Noah Roberts is 7-for-7.
The Winona State lineup has four hitters above .300 on the season, with
Sam Kohnle (.379),
Nick Herbst (.338),
Derek Baumgartner (.321) and
Tanner Williams (.319) leading the Warrior way. Baumgartner's four triples leads the league in that category, while Kohnle's .379 batting average is sixth in the NSIC. Kohnle also is tied for third in the conference in walks with 18.
Jake Brill leads Winona State with five stolen bases this year.
Extra bases:
It has been a while since Winona State and Wayne State met on the diamond, the last game between the two teams was on May 10, 2019, a 10-2 WSU win played in St. Cloud, Minn.
Most recently, the Warriors earned back-to-back NSIC sweeps over Southwest Minnesota State and Minot State, a feat last accomplished in 2013. That year, Winona State dispatched the Upper Iowa University and Minnesota - Duluth in a string of five straight conference victories earned between Saturday, April 27 and Tuesday, April 30.
Wayne State College head coach Alex Koch is in his seventh season running the Wildcat dugout, going 132-127 overall in his first six years with the program.
Winona State's
Kyle Poock is in his 19th year with Winona State, a run that is second-longest in the NSIC.
For the most up to date news in Warrior Athletics, please visit:
www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and
@WinonaStateATH.
About Winona State University Athletics:
The Winona State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, as an integral part of the educational mission of the institution, is committed to offering opportunities to experience academic and athletic excellence for our student-athletes through two simple words:
Graduate Champions.
Fourteen Warrior programs compete at the NCAA Division II level within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Winona State University competes as an affiliate member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in the sport of women's gymnastics.
