Game One Box
Game Two Box
ST. PAUL, MINN.: Amanda Burkhart's two home runs led No. 13 ranked Southwest Minnesota State University to an 11-4 win over Concordia St. Paul in game one, while SMSU pulled off a 5-3 victory in game two to earn the sweep on Monday.
The NSIC doubleheader was scheduled to be played on Thursday, Apr. 24 but was moved to today due to poor weather conditions.
The Mustangs improved to 33-8 overall and 17-1 in conference play with the wins while Concordia falls to 25-20 overall and 11-7 in the NSIC.
In game one, Amanda Tucci started the Mustang scoring as she hit a home run in the top of the second to tie the game at 1-1. Burkhart then added two more runs hitting a home run in the third to earn two RBI, scoring Meaghan Laetsch who reached base earlier in the inning on a double.
SMSU added another run in the fourth as Micki Seibring, who was pitch running for Tucci who led off the inning with a walk, scored on an Andrea Fennern sacrifice fly to center field. CSP answered back in the bottom of the fourth hitting two doubles to score one run.
Burkhart struck again in the top of the fifth, hitting another two-run bomb allowing the Mustangs to go up 6-2. This marked Burkhart's fifth home run of the season and 15th of her career.
Southwest then added five insurance runs in the top of the seventh as Kiley Petersen's double down the right field line scored the first two runs. Fennern scored the next two runs off a single to left field and eventually scored herself on a wild pitch.
Concordia however did score two more in the bottom of the seven with a two run homer but the Mustangs got three straight outs to end the game.
Amanda Johnson earned the win on the mound pitching all seven innings with six strikeouts while scattering eight hits in game one.
In game two, Concordia started out with two runs in the first, both unearned, and then added another in the third to go up 3-0.
The Mustangs rallied back in the top of the fourth as Burkhart led off the inning with a single, which was followed one batter later by a home run from Tucci, marking her eighth of this season. The next three batters reached on CSP errors allowing SMSU to score its last run of the inning to tie the game at 3-3.
SMSU then scored two runs in the top of the seventh to earn the victory. The first was scored on an error by the Concordia shortstop while the second run was earned on a fielder's choice allowing Dickhausen to score.
Erin Dickhausen had three hits over both games which broke the SMSU school career record for most hit held by Kari Topper (1998-01). Dickhausen now has 215 hits in her career.
Sara Silke earned the win on the mound in game two as she improves her record to 5-1 overall, while Johnson earned the save, her third of the season. Silke pitched 6.1 innings while three strikeouts while scattering four hits.
SMSU will be back in action tomorrow at 3 p.m. hosting Augustana College in a non-conference match-up.
