GAME 1 BOX | GAME 2 BOX

CROOKSTON, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State used a pair of strong pitching performances to earn a doubleheader road sweep over Minnesota Crookston on Saturday.  SMSU senior Corby McGlauflin, making his first career start, tossed a five-hit shutout to lead the Mustangs to a 2-0 victory in game one, while Steven Wehr pitched a career-high eight innings in game two to lead SMSU to a 5-2 victory.

The series was originally scheduled to be played in Marshall but was moved north due to poor weather in Marshall.  SMSU is the home team on the scoreboard for the four games.

SMSU has won a season-high three straight games and four of its last five overall.  The twin bill sweep pushes SMSU's record to 15-23-1 overall, 9-13 NSIC, while UMC drops to 1-40 overall, 1-27 NSIC.  

McGlauflin allowed just five singles and didn't allow a runner to reach third, while recording a career-high seven strikeouts.  The SMSU offense was held in check in the game, collecting just six hits off of UMC starter J.C. Crane, but it was more than enough for McGlauflin, who moved to 2-1 on the season. 

In conference play, McGlauflin is now 1-1 with four saves in eight appearances with a 0.59 ERA, while racking up 16 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings.

SMSU jumped to an early lead in the bottom of the first as Jon Ellis led off with a single and later scored on a run-scoring single by Kyle Young.

Ellis started another rally in the third, reaching on one-out single, stealing second and then coming around to score on an RBI single by Jordon Kontz to give SMSU a 2-0 lead.

Ellis finished the opener tying a career-high with three hits.

Wehr (2-3), who was coming off a career-high six innings pitched in a win over Northern State last Saturday, allowed just five hits and one unearned run, while striking out a career-high eight with just one walk.

The Golden Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the second, before the Mustangs rallied in the third to tie the game on back-to-back doubles by Steven Kremer and Young.

SMSU took the lead in the fifth as Ellis led off with a single and was followed by Kontz getting hit by a pitch.  After a double play, Young came through with a clutch two-out double to score Ellis and give the Mustangs a 2-1 advantage.

SMSU opened the game up in the home half of the seventh as Ben Korger started the frame with a double and came around to score on an error by the UMC second baseman on a ball hit by Ellis making the score 3-1.  A single by Kontz put runners on the corners, before Kremer made it 4-1 with a sac fly.  Brian Ness closed the scoring with a single to right and on the play the UMC right fielder had a fielding error allowing Kontz to cross the plate and make the score 5-1.

Ellis and Young both finished 2 for 4 to lead a 10-hit attack for the Mustangs, which included five extra-base hits.  Young finished with two doubles, Kremer and Korger each had a double, while Mason Schnaible added a triple.

The twin bill sweep pushes SMSU's record to 15-23-1 overall, 9-13 NSIC, while UMC drops to 1-40 overall, 1-27 NSIC. 

Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota Crookston conclude the season tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.

** NOTE ** The NSIC office ruled on Friday that SMSU's conference record entering the final weekend is now 7-13.  NSIC Commissioner, Butch Raymond, ruled the NSIC the doubleheader between Southwest Minnesota State and University of Sioux Falls played on April 16 will be counted as non-conference games.  SMSU played on Sunday-Monday, April 14-15, versus Minnesota State. 

The schools notified the conference office concerning the change of dates, but the conference office allowed the change without checking the previous weekend's games of both teams which created a violation of ByLaw III Game routines in the NSIC Baseball Handbook: “Weekday games may be played on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Tuesday games may only be rescheduled if neither team played on Monday.”

Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul also had its doubleheader played on April 30 ruled as a non-conference doubleheader.

The games will count in both teams overall win/loss record and NCAA DII Central Region win/loss record.