MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team closed the regular season on Saturday suffering an 11-6 loss to Minnesota Crookston on Senior Day at Legion Field.
 
SMSU scored four runs in the sixth to tie the game at 6-6, but UMC rallied with a five-run seventh inning to complete the three-game sweep.
 
It was the final home game for SMSU seniors, Jackson Bates, Craig Lasley, Robbie Smith and Keenan Wenzel. It was also the final home game for head coach, Paul Blanchard, who is retiring following 27 seasons in charge and racking up 591 career victories.
 
SMSU ends the regular season in fifth place in the NSIC standings at 19-13 and finished 27-15 overall. The Mustangs will be the No. 5 seed in the NSIC Tournament which begins on Wednesday in Bismarck, N.D., and face No. 4 seed St. Cloud State. SMSU is making its first appearance in the tournament since 2014.
 
UMC is the No. 3 seed in the tournament and ends the regular season at 36-18 overall, 26-10 NSIC.
 
Bates, making his first career start on the mound, tossed a solid six innings, allowing six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
 
The Golden Eagles scored two runs in the first and second inning and added another run in the third to build a 5-0 lead.
 
The Mustangs closed the gap with a pair of runs in the fifth on a sac fly by Chase McDaniel and an RBI single by Jaxon Haase to cut the deficit to 5-2.
 
UMC pushed across a run in the sixth to make the score 6-2, but SMSU rallied with four runs to tie the game in the home half of the frame.
 
Max Kalenberg started the inning reaching via a fielding error by the UMC third baseman and was followed by a walk to Jake Tauer. After two strikeouts, Robbie Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Isaac Nett hit an infield single to score a run, while a throwing error on the play pushed across another run to make the score 6-4. McDaniel followed with a run-scoring single to left field to plate the fifth run, while on the play a misplay by the left fielder allowed Nett score all the way from first base and tie the game at 6-6.
 
The game wasn't tied for long however as the Golden Eagles scored five runs on four hits off Mustang reliever, Kobe Lovell (1-1), who suffered his first loss of the season. Theo Giedd fired the final two innings and allowed just one hit with two strikeouts.
 
SMSU finished the game with seven hits as McDaniel was 2 for 4 with two RBIs, while Nett, Haase, Kalenberg, Tauer and Caleb Gardow each collected one base hit.
 
Mike Hallquist led UMC with a double, a home run and two RBIs.