WINONA, Minn. – The Warriors baseball team picked up two NSIC wins after defeating Wayne State 8-4 and 10-4 on a cold and windy afternoon at Loughrey Field.
WSU used a combination of strong hitting and quality pitching to earn a doubleheader sweep of the Wayne State Wildcats on Saturday.
Game One: WSU (8) – WSC (4)
WSU kicked off the scoring with one run in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly from
Max Strecker, scoring
Payton Kohnle.
A three-run blast from Wayne State during the top of the third gave the Wildcats a 3-1 advantage. In the bottom half of the third,
Klayton Hawkins drilled a ball off the right field wall, tying the contest at 3-3 after
Easton Arendt and
Dylan Harer crossed home.
Wayne State retook the lead at 4-3 in the fourth frame. WSU tied it right back up at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth after Kohnle singled, scoring
Jack Funke.
Josh Hatano put WSU back in front at 5-4 after an RBI single scored
Max Pederson. Later in the inning, Harer drove in
Boone Kirst on an RBI single, making it 6-4.
Ben Hefel closed out the scoring with a two-RBI double, scoring both Harer and Hatano, ending the inning 8-4.
Boyd Skelley threw a scoreless frame in the seventh to earn a victory for Winona State. Funke led the bats with two hits while Hawkins and Hefel each had two RBIs.
Sawyer Hoffman (3-2) earned the win, tossing 6.0 innings while giving up four earned runs on six hits. He recorded eight strikeouts in the win. Skelley finished the game throwing the seventh inning.
Game Two: WSU (10) – WSC (4)
The Wildcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first half inning. Winona State responded with two runs in the bottom of the first after back-to-back RBI singles from Kirst and Arendt, making it 2-1.
The Warriors grew their edge to 5-1 in the second inning after a three-spot in the frame. A wild pitch scored
Garrett Hietpas, then a two-RBI single from Kirst scored Harer and Hatano.
Wayne State cut their deficit to 5-2 after a run in the third. WSU responded in a big way with four more runs in the bottom of the third. Hietpas started the party off with an RBI double. Then,
Connor Weed plated two more with a single while later scoring on a Wildcat error, growing the WSU advantage to 9-2.
After a leadoff triple from
Connor Greuel, Hietpas made it 10-2 after a single in the fourth. WSC gained one run back in the top of the fifth, cutting their deficit to 10-3. Strong pitching from the Warriors ended the game at 10-4.
Hietpas led WSU in game two with three hits while Greuel, Harer, and Kirst all had two hits apiece. Kirst also added three RBIs in the contest.
Ryan Buchta (1-1) grabbed the win, going 5.0 innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits. Logan Laplante went 2.1 innings giving up one earned run with
Carson Jones tossing 1.2 scoreless frames.
Winona State (19-19, 14-11 NSIC) finishes off the three-game series tomorrow, April 19 with first pitch at 12:00pm.
