BRANDON, S.D. - The Winona State University baseball team competes today, Thursday, May 12, in Brandon, S.D., taking on Augustana University on the second day of the 2022 NSIC Baseball Tournament.  The first pitch between the Vikings and the Warriors is set for 4:00 p.m.

Winona State (17-21) advanced to play Augustana (42-8-1) following a wild win over Minot State on Wednesday, having beaten the Beavers on a ninth-inning two-run home run by Dane Weiland after the two teams saw their contest delayed for over five hours due to weather.  

Winona State maintained a lead in the contest against MSU up until the seventh inning when the Beavers put together a three-run outburst to take a 6-5 advantage.  With the Warriors mounting a rally in the top of the eighth, the weather delay ensured and the teams did not return to action until 7:55 p.m.  The final two innings saw Winona State tie the game at 6-6 only to concede one more run to go down 7-6 after eight.  Down to their last at-bats, enter Dane Weiland who drove a ball over the fence in left field with a runner on, staking WSU an 8-7 lead.  In the bottom of the ninth, Justin Firpo survived a pair of walks to end the game, striking out two Beavers among the three outs he earned while shutting the door on Minot State.

Coming off a game in which they hit five home runs - led by Cooper Kapanke with two - WSU will face an Augustana team with an overall record is 41-8-1 and a NSIC regular-season mark of 31-5.  The Vikings are ranked at No. 18 in the NCBWA Top-25 Poll and are at No. 2 in the most recent NCAA Division II Central Regional Poll. Joshua Hawksford had his 12-game hitting streak snapped against Minot State, but Kapanke has an impressive run of six straight games with a base hit, five of which have been home runs, one of several X factors the Warriors bring to the field against Augustana today.

On Thursday, the two teams will play at 4:00 p.m. at First National Bank Field in Brandon, S.D., with the Vikings as the No. 1 seed and the Warriors at No. 5. The appearance in the 2022 NSIC Baseball Tournament is the fourth straight NSIC postseason trip for Winona State, having qualified in 2018, 2019, and, 2021.  Due to the pandemic, there was no NSIC tournament in 2020.  

The winner of the NSIC Baseball Tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament. The 39-team NCAA Central Region is made up of teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), and the Great American Conference (GAC). Automatic bids are awarded to the tournament champions from each conference with the final five spots awarded on an at-large basis.

The championship preliminary round competition provides for 16 regional sites that consist of 4-teams, and double-elimination tournaments. The winners of these regional-round competitions advance to a super-regional round that consists of two teams competing in a best-of-three series.

For the most up-to-date news in Warrior Athletics, please visit: www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and @WinonaStateATH.

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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.