BOX SCORE
LAKELAND, Fla. – Southwest Minnesota State snapped a four-game losing streak by recording a season-high in both runs and hits to earn a 17-7 victory over Slippery Rock (Pa.) on Wednesday in Lakeland, Fla.
SMSU (3-5) finished with 18 hits, all singles, to earn its first win in five games during its 10-game Florida road trip. Matt Bauer, Cody Curry, Andrew Kinney and Josh Wendland all finished the game with three hits, while Bauer led the SMSU offense with four RBI.
Mustang starter Tyler Paulson earned the victory on the mound, tossing 5.2 innings with a career-high eight strikeouts.
SMSU jumped on the board early scoring six runs in the top of the first inning on six hits. Tyler Fayden started the scoring with an RBI single, while Tyler Jendro followed with another run-scoring single to make it 2-0. Andy Williamson drove in another run with a single, before Adam Thyegsen pushed the lead to 5-0 with a two-run single to right field.
Following a run by SRU (6-6) in the bottom of the first, SMSU answered with a pair of runs in the second inning on an RBI ground out by Bauer and a throwing error by the SRU third baseman allowing another run to cross the plate and push the lead to 8-1 after two innings.
Slippery Rock plated four runs in the bottom of the third to cut the SMSU lead to 8-5, before Paulsen settled down and retired eight straight SRU batters, including recording five strikeouts to keep SMSU in the lead.
The game remained 8-5 into the sixth inning when the Mustangs pushed across four more runs taking advantage of three walks and two hit batters by SRU pitchers. SMSU loaded the bases with one out on two walks and a hit batter. Kinney smacked an RBI single to make it 9-5, before Bauer followed up with a two-run single up the middle to extend the lead to 11-5. Kinney closed the inning by scoring the final run on a wild pitch.
SMSU tacked on another run in the seventh putting together a two-out rally. Cody Curry was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a single to right field by Kinney. Bauer then came through with a clutch two-out single making the score 13-6.
The Mustangs finished off the victory adding two more runs in both the eighth and ninth innings.
Southwest Minnesota State will continue its 10-game Florida road trip tomorrow afternoon taking on No. 13 and 2009 College World Series participant Grand Valley State (Mich.) in Winter Haven, Fla., for a doubleheader starting at 12:30 p.m. EST.
