TUCSON, Ariz. – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team concluded its 10-game schedule at the Tucson Invitational on Monday morning with an 18-8 victory in seven innings over Dickinson State (N.D.) played at the Kino Sports Complex.
SMSU finished its season-opening trip with an 8-2 record and is off to its best start since the 2009 team opened 9-1.
Kolby Kiser (1-0) started on the mound for the Mustangs and was outstanding as he struck out a career-high 10 batters in four innings, while allowing three hits, one walk and hit one batter.
The offense slugged 18 hits in the contest with four Mustangs collecting three hits.
The Mustangs put together a great top of the first inning scoring four runs on five hits.
Robbie Smith started the game with a hit by pitch and with one out moved to third on a single by
Jaxon Haase.
Owen Latendresse,
Peyton Nash and
Keenan Wenzel all followed with RBI singles, while
Jackson Bates closed the scoring with an RBI bunt single.
SMSU added to the lead in the second taking advantage of a Blue Hawks error to plate two unearned runs. With runners on the corners and two outs, Nash drilled an opposite-field two-run double to left-center field to push the margin to 6-0.
The Mustangs would tack on five more in the fifth with some more two-out magic. Bates started the rally with a single and moved to second on a two-out single up the middle by Smith. Nett followed with a walk to load the bases before Haase was hit by a pitch to plate the first run. Latendresse would deliver a two-run single to score Smith and Nett to make the score 9-0, before Wenzel drilled a ground-rule double to push across two more runs and make the score 11-0.
The lead would move to 12-0 in the sixth as Haase would loft a pop up near first that was lost in the sky by the first baseman to allow Smith to score for a fourth time.
The Blue Hawks, 8-10 overall, scored two runs, one unearned, in the home half of the sixth to make the score 12-2.
SMSU blew the game wide open in the seventh highlighted by a three-run triple by Nett and a two-run homer by Haase.
DSU would battle to the end and scored six runs in the seventh, but it wasn't enough as SMSU earned its first run-rule victory of the season.
Nett, Haase, Nash and Wenzel all finished with three hits, while Bates added two hits. Haase closed with a team-high four RBIs, while Nett, Latendresse, Nash and Wenzel each added three RBIs.
SMSU is scheduled to open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this Saturday and Sunday with a three-game series at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D. Possible schedule adjustments will be made later in the week.
