BOX SCORE
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State's run in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament continued on Sunday as the Mustangs moved into the championship game with a 4-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth.
SMSU (29-17) will now face top-seeded Minnesota State (39-13) in the championship game starting at 2:15 p.m.
The victory was also important for SMSU, which is ranked No. 8 in the NCAA Central Region rankings. UMD was ranked No. 7, a team SMSU defeated three of four games this season. SMSU also defeated No. 5 St. Cloud State last night. The top six teams in the region advance to the NCAA tournament. The tournament will be announced at 9 p.m. tonight.
SMSU once again received outstanding pitching as five Mustang pitchers allowed just one earned run on nine hits. Jared Pick moved to 7-3 on the season tossing 5.2 innings allowing four hits and one unearned run, while striking out one and walking two. Tyler Jendro earned his fifth save pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
Jendro was also the leader on offense with three hits and two RBI, while Tyler Fayden added two hits and an RBI.
SMSU opened a scoreless game in the bottom of the third inning pushing across four runs. Bobby Zellmann started the frame with a single. Following a fly out by Cody Curry, Derick Swenson and Andrew Kinney were both hit by pitches to load the bases. Matt Bauer then dropped in a single to put SMSU in the lead at 1-0. Tyler Fayden followed with an RBI single, before Tyler Jendro drilled a two-run single to push the lead to 4-0.
UMD trimmed into the lead with an unearned run in the sixth and then added another run in the seventh to cut the margin to 4-2. The Bulldogs had the bases loaded in the inning, with the tying run on second base, but Mustang catcher Bobby Zellmann tossed a perfect strike to first baseman Andrew Kinney to pickoff the runner and keep SMSU with a two-run cushion.
SMSU will be making its seventh appearance in the NSIC tournament championship game, winning titles in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2002.
