MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team had its six-game winning streak snapped on Friday suffering a pair of losses to the University of Minnesota Crookston at Legion Field. UMC, which locked up the third seed in the upcoming NSIC Tournament, won the opener 23-2 before earning a 15-4 eight-inning victory in game two.
 
SMSU, which is now set as the No. 5 seed in the eight-team NSIC Tournament, drops to 27-14 overall, 19-12 NSIC. UMC improves to 35-18 overall, 25-10 NSIC. The teams conclude the series on Saturday with first pitch at 12 p.m. SMSU's four seniors will be honored prior to the game, while the game is the final home game for retiring SMSU head coach, Paul Blanchard.
 
SMSU will play No. 4 seed St. Cloud State in the first round on Wednesday in Bismarck, N.D., with first pitch at 12 p.m.
 
In game one, UMC racked up 17 hits with Jake Hjelle connecting on three home runs and driving in seven RBIs. Josh Dykhoff added four hits, four runs and five RBIs.
 
UMC's Alex Koep pitched five innings to earn the win, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
 
SMSU scored its two runs in the fourth inning with Isaac Nett hitting a double and coming around to score on a Chase McDaniel run-scoring single. Peyton Nash would later hit a sac fly to score McDaniel.
 
SMSU had just three hits in the game with Jackson Bates also collecting a hit to join Nett and McDaniel.
 
Senior Craig Lasley (0-1) made his first career start and pitched four innings, allowing 11 hits, 12 runs (11 earned) with one strikeout and one walk. Jerod Cyrus tossed 1 1/3 innings, while Will Baldus fired the final 1 2/3 innings.
 
In game two, UMC scored a run in the first, but SMSU answered in the home half of the second as Max Kalenberg drilled a two-run home run to put the Mustangs up 2-1.
 
SMSU added to the lead in the third as Owen Latendresse reached on a fielder's choice to plate Nett.
 
Trailing 3-1 in the fourth, UMC countered with a six-run fourth inning, scoring four runs with two outs to build a 7-3 advantage. The Golden Eagles put the game away with a run in the fifth, two in the sixth, one in the seventh and four more in the eighth.
 
SMSU plated a single run in the eighth as McDaniel and Haase singled to open the frame before Latendresse connected on a run-scoring hit to make the score 15-4.
 
The Mustangs finished game two with nine hits as Haase, Latendresse and Kalenberg all had two hits.
 
Mitchell Bouwman (0-1), making his first career start on the mound, allowed eight runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, with three strikeouts and seven walks (two intentional). Hayden Molva and Camerson Jensen combined to throw the final 3 2/3 innings.
 
Ben Goelz led the Golden Eagles in game two with three hits, including a home run and four RBIs.