Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
MARSHALL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State picked up its first doubleheader sweep of the season on Sunday using strong pitching and a walk-off hit to earn a pair of 2-1 victories over Upper Iowa at Alumni Field.
SMSU won the opener in 10 innings on a walk-off single by
Jayden Fleck, then used a complete game effort from
Davis Bryan in game two to complete the sweep.
In the opener, Fleck ripped the game-winning single down the third base line to give the Mustangs the victory.
Tanner Luebke started the rally with a single and moved to third base on a stolen base and a wild pitch. Following a strikeout for the first out, Fleck ripped a 1-1 pitch to give SMSU the victory.
Trailing 1-0 in the third, SMSU put together a two-out rally to tie the game. Singles by
Kody Larson and
Jayden Fleck put runners on the corners before
Derek Branson drilled a 2-2 pitch to left field to score Larson and tie the game at 1-1.
Erik Thorvilson started on the mound for SMSU and was outstanding tossing a career-high nine innings, with a career-high six strikeouts. He allowed four hits and walked two and was dominate in his final five innings. After allowing a lead-off double in the fifth, he retired 13 straight batters and 15 of the final 16 batters he faced.
Jake Leighton (1-1) tossed a scoreless 10
th inning to earn the victory for SMSU.
Kyle Graves, Fleck and Luebke each collected two hits to pace and eight-hit Mustang effort.
In game two, UIU scored the game's first run in the second, but SMSU quickly answered as
Shane Sellner hit a one-out double and later scored on a two-out single by
Cole VanderBeek.
SMSU took the lead in the third without a ball leaving the infield. Fleck started the inning with a bunt single and moved to second on a throwing error on the play. Another fielding error put runners on second and third with no outs. Following a strikeout and ground out, Fleck raced home on a wild pitch to give the Mustangs a 2-1 advantage.
The run support was enough for Bryan (1-4), who picked up his first victory at SMSU, allowing one run on six hits with five strikeouts and four walks.
SMSU was held to just six hits, with Luebke leading the way with a 2 for 2 performance.
SMSU's
Jon Leighton went hitless in game one to end his 19-game hitting streak.
Southwest Minnesota State will now embark on a 10-game road swing during the two weeks, starting with a doubleheader on Wednesday versus Concordia-St. Paul starting at 1:30 p.m.