Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
WINONA, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State picked up a critical road sweep over Winona State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference on Wednesday winning 14-7 and 12-8.
The two victories moves SMSU into third place in the conference standings and was also important in the NCAA regional rankings. SMSU is ranked seventh in this week's NCAA regional rankings released today, while WSU is ranked sixth. The top six teams qualify for the regional in mid-May.
SMSU with the two victories is 21-6 overall, 11-5 NSIC, while WSU drops to 23-14, 15-7 NSIC.
In the opener, Matt Bauer smacked the go-ahead three-run homer to give SMSU a 9-7 lead that it would never give up. SMSU cracked eight extra-base hits in the contest, including belting three home runs to rally from an early 4-0 deficit.
The Warriors scored four second inning runs off of SMSU starter Mark Bendzick, who was making his first career NSIC start and just the of his career. SMSU rallied right back in the top of third as Josh Nolan and Jake Munsch started the inning with a double and single respectively and came around to score on a three-run home run by Derick Swenson. After a fly out by Greg Laughlin, Andrew Kinney tied the game with a solo home run down the right field line. SMSU wasn't through in the third, as Derek West and Andy Williamson followed with singles and each moved up one base on walk to Bauer to load the bases. A balk and a wild pitch by WSU pushed across two more runs to give SMSU a 6-4 lead.
Winona State answered back with two runs in the third and scored an unearned run in the fourth off of SMSU reliever Nate Dickhausen to regain a 7-6 lead.
SMSU had another answer in the fifth inning to take the lead for good and never looked back. Laughlin lead off the inning with a double and following a pop out, moved to third base on a ground out. Williamson walked to put runners on first and third, before Bauer stepped to the plate and cleared the bases with his eighth homer of the season to give SMSU a 9-7 lead.
Max Zwart then came on to pitch a perfect fifth inning to allow the SMSU bats a chance to extend the lead and they did just that in the sixth inning scoring five more runs. With one out and runners on first and third, Kinney hit a two-run triple for the first two runs of the inning and later scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 12-7. Doug Stearns and Scott Rambow would later each deliver pinch-hit RBI doubles to make the score 14-7, which was plenty of support for Zwart, who pitched a career-high three innings while striking out a career-high five batters.
Laughlin, Kinney, Munsch and West all finished the game with two hit for SMSU, which finished with 14 hits in the game. Bauer, Kinney and Swenson all ended the game with three RBI.
Dickhausen picked up the win in relief pitching 1.2 innings, allowing two hits and one unearned run. Zwart earned his first career save tossing the final three innings, allowing two hits, one walk and the career-high five strikeouts.
In the nightcap, SMSU once again rallied from a 4-0 deficit, but this time scored five runs with two outs in the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead. The one-run lead was short lived though as WSU scored two in the bottom of the inning to regain a 6-5 lead.
SMSU, as it did in the opener, came right back scoring five more runs in the sixth inning to build a 10-6 lead and never looking back to earn the victory.
Trailing 4-0 in the fifth and with runners on first and second and two outs, Munsch hit a run-scoring single for SMSU's first run and Swenson followed with another RBI single to cut the WSU lead to 4-2. Laughlin continued the rally with an RBI single and advanced to second on the throw to the plate to make the score 4-3 and put runners on second and third. Kinney then gave SMSU the lead with another single to score Swenson and Laughlin.
Winona State scored two runs in the fifth to take the lead back at 6-5, but it could've been worse for SMSU. WSU tied the game at 5-5 after the first two batters of the inning, following a double, a steal of third and an RBI bunt single off of SMSU reliever Nick Locnikar. After a fly out for the first out of the inning, Locnikar issued another walk and a hit by pitch to load the bases with one out. Aaron Rochleau came on with the bases loaded and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch, but he struck out the final two hitters to keep the score at 6-5 after five innings of play.
In the sixth, SMSU took the lead for good as Scott Rambow started the rally with a one out double. Pinch runner Josh Wendland advanced to third on a wild pitch, and following a walk by Stearns, he scored the tying run on an RBI single by Nolan to tie the game at 6-6. Mark Bendzick pinch ran for Stearns and scored just moments later on a run-scoring double by Munsch to make the score 7-6. Swenson then cleared the bases one batter later lifting a home run over the right field wall to give SMSU an 10-6 lead. Bauer capped the scoring with an RBI double that scored Kinney as the Mustangs built the lead to 11-6.
WSU scored two runs in the sixth to trim the lead to 11-8, but SMSU picked up an insurance run in the seventh inning as Wendland scored on a wild pitch after leading off the inning with a walk.
The Mustang offense cracked out 11 hits with Swenson, Munsch and Kinney each collecting two apiece.
Rochleau picked up the victory while Tyler Paulson pitched a perfect seventh to close out the game.
SMSU, which is coming off a 6-2 road trip during the last week, returns home on Saturday, April 25, with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Alumni Field versus Augustana. The two teams will conclude the series on Sunday, April 26, at Augustana.
