SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Warriors fell 4-3 on a walk-off in game one and responded with a dominant 10-0 win in game two on Monday against the Jamestown Jimmies.
After a
Max Pederson solo home run in the top of the seventh inning gave WSU a 3-2 lead, Jamestown stormed back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to earn a 4-3 win. The nightcap was all Warriors as stellar pitching and hitting granted Winona State a commanding 10-0 victory.
Game One: UJ (4) – WSU (3)
Winona State kicked off the scoring with a solo home run from
Dylan Harer in the top of the third inning, making it 1-0. After a leadoff double by Pederson in the top of the fifth,
Garrett Hietpas recorded an RBI single, extending the WSU lead to 2-0. Jamestown knotted the contest 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth after a two-RBI single from Ryder Peace.
The game remained tied until the final frame when Pederson hit a go-ahead solo shot to left center, to grant the Warriors a 3-2 edge heading to the bottom of the seventh. After UJ drew a leadoff walk, the runner moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt. The Jimmies tied the game up at 3-3 after a WSU error. In the next at-bat, Mathieu Morin delivered a walk-off RBI double ending the game 4-3.
Pederson led the Warriors with two hits and two runs in the loss. Seven Winona State batters tallied hits while Harer added an RBI on his solo home run.
Sawyer Hoffman made the start, tossing 5.0 innings allowing five hits and two earned runs. He walked one and struck out six batters in his outing.
Peyton Lee (0-2) took the loss, going 1.1 innings, giving up two unearned runs on two hits.
Game Two: WSU (10) – UJ (0)
The second game started with a bang after
Adam Wall hit a two-run long ball, putting WSU up 2-0. Winona State added a run in the second inning to make it 3-0 after a
Josh Hatano RBI single scored Pederson. Winona State grew its lead to 4-0 after a
Connor Greuel RBI single in the fourth.
The Warriors tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning, capped off by a
Max Strecker two-RBI single, scoring
Easton Arendt and
Jack Funke to make it 7-0. Hatano scored Greuel on a sacrifice fly extending the WSU advantage to 8-0 in the sixth frame.
Mitch Frey made it 10-0 in the ninth with a two-RBI double, scoring
Cal Casper and
Christian Varsho.
Hatano led Winona State with two hits. Frey, Hatano, Strecker, and Wall all recorded multi-RBI games. 10 different Warriors scored and eight batters tallied a hit.
Hunter Guenther (3-2) picked up the shutout win for the Warriors. Guenther went 5.0 innings, allowing four hits and zero runs. He walked one and fanned six in the dominant performance.
Eli Babler and
Ryan Buchta closed the shutout, tossing two scoreless innings apiece.
Winona State (13-16, 8-8 NSIC) hosts #14 Augustana University on Wednesday, April 8 with first pitch slated for 1:30pm at Loughrey Field.
