Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

CROOKSTON, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team closed out its road schedule with a big sweep over Minnesota Crookston at a windy UMC baseball field on Sunday. SMSU won the opener 12-1 and completed the sweep with a 9-1 victory in game two. The Mustangs captured the weekend Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference series, taking three of four from the Golden Eagles.
 
The SMSU offense racked up double figure hits in three of the four games, while the SMSU pitching staff held UMC to five or less hits in three of the four games and allowed just one earned run in the three victories.  
 
With Sunday's sweep, SMSU improves to 14-22 overall, 9-17 NSIC, while playing every game away from Marshall this season. SMSU will finally play at home this upcoming weekend taking on Bemidji State on Friday and Saturday at Alumni Field in a four-game series.
 
In game one, SMSU racked up 15 hits—its second highest total of the season—in cruising to the victory. Six different Mustangs had multi-hit games with Jake Hendricks leading the way with three hits and a run scored. Ben Heichel had two hits and three RBIs, while Jayden Fleck added two hits and two RBIs.
 
After scoring a run on a wild pitch in the first inning, SMSU added to the lead in the third with a two out rally. Shane Sellner and Hendricks both hit two-out singles, before Fleck came through with a two-run double to make the score 3-0.
 
SMSU added to the lead in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Nathan Kuhn and a fielder's choice grounder by Heichel to push the margin to 5-0.
 
After UMC (20-27, 6-22 NSIC) scored a run in the fourth, SMSU put the game away with a seven-run fifth inning on five hits and three Golden Eagles errors. Connor Johnson started the scoring with an RBI single, before two-run doubles by Tanner Strommen and Heichel made the score 10-1. Sellner would add an RBI single to build a 10-run lead and would later come around to score on a fielding error to give the Mustangs a 12-1 advantage.
 
The run support was plenty for Mustang starting pitcher Cole Petersen (2-2), who tossed five innings and allowed just one run on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Michael Revenig finished the game with two scoreless innings.
 
In game two, SMSU exploded out of the gate, scoring five first inning runs and four more in the second.
 
Kuhn started the first inning rally with a double and moved to third on a single by Heichel. Sellner hit a ground ball that was misplayed by the third baseman to allow the first run to score and was followed by a Hendricks single to load the bases. Fleck was hit by a pitch to score the second run, before another UMC throwing error plated Hendricks to make the score 3-0. Johnson made the score 4-0 with an infield RBI single, while the final run of the frame scored on a passed ball.
 
SMSU added to the lead in a big way in the second as Heichel singled, Sellner walked and Fleck singled to load the bases. Brady Lanoue then stepped to the plate and smashed a grand slam into a 30 mile per hour wind over the right field fence to push the lead to 9-0. It was the first career home run for Lanoue.
 
Mustang starting pitcher Jeremy Stouffer (1-2) took advantage of the support to record his first victory of the season. He lasted a career-high 7 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and no earned runs, while striking out seven and walking two.
 
The SMSU offense reached double figure hits for the fourth time in the last five games with 10 hits in game two. Heichel and Fleck each had two hits and scored a pair of runs, while Hendricks also had two hits and scored one run.
 
Southwest Minnesota State and Bemidji State open the series on Friday with a 2 p.m. doubleheader.