GAME 1 BOX SCORE | GAME 2 BOX SCORE

DULUTH, Minn. – Chelsey Evans tossed a complete game with seven strikeouts to lead Southwest Minnesota State to a 5-3 victory over Minnesota Duluth in game two of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference on Sunday.  UMD picked up a 3-1 victory in the opener.

SMSU opened the NSIC season winning three of four road games this weekend and improves to 12-8 overall.  UMD is now 18-14 overall and 2-2 NSIC.

Evans carried a shutout into the seventh inning as SMSU held a 5-0 lead, but UMD rallied to trim the deficit to two runs, before Evans closed the game with a foul out and ground out.  Evans scattered seven hits and walked five in earning the victory and improved to 6-2 on the season.

SMSU finished with six hits in the victory with five different players picking up RBIs. 

The Mustangs opened a scoreless game in the fourth as Kaley Scearcy and Shelbie Stoll delivered RBI singles to open a two-run lead. 

SMSU added to the margin in the seventh, picking up three big insurance runs.  Kasey Eichten started the big inning with a walk and moved to third on a double by Christine Borowiak.  Kris Penick and Ashely Gigax followed with back-to-back RBI singles, before Penick scored on a UMD throwing error for the final run to extend the lead to 5-0.

In the opener, SMSU was held to just two hits, with Rachel Hoeppner suffering the tough-luck loss in the circle.  Hoeppner tossed the complete game, allowing three runs on six hits with a pair of strikeouts and one walk to drop to 5-5 on the season.

Trailing 2-0 in the third, SMSU pushed across its lone run as Scearcy doubled and came around to score on a ground out by Borowiak.  Gigax had SMSU's only other base hit.

Southwest Minnesota State continues conference action on Wednesday, March 28, with a doubleheader at Augustana College starting at 3 p.m.