MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team saw its four-game winning streak snapped on Sunday afternoon suffering an 11-8 setback to Winona State.
SMSU, which won twice over WSU on Saturday, falls to 23-14 overall, 17-12 NSIC.
WSU collected 12 hits and took advantage of nine walks and two hit batters by SMSU pitching to salvage the final game of the series.
SMSU, which trailed 9-3 in the seventh inning, rallied with a run in the seventh and three more in the eighth and twice had the go-ahead run at the plate in the eighth, but failed to come up the clutch base hit.
The Mustangs closed the game with 14 hits, but five Warrior pitchers combined to walk just one batter, while hitting two in the victory.
SMSU opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with
Owen Latendresse smacking a solo home run over the center field fence.
WSU answered in the top of the second with a run off SMSU starting pitcher
Ryan Chmielewski, but a leadoff home run in the bottom of the second by
Max Kalenberg, put SMSU back in the lead at 2-1.
The score remained 2-1 into the fifth before WSU's Cole Fuecker connected on a two-out, two-run double to put the Warriors in the lead at 3-2. WSU would add two more runs in the frame to extend the margin to 5-2.
SMSU closed the deficit in the bottom of the fifth with
Chase McDaniel hitting a two-out double before
Isaac Nett came through with an RBI single to make the score 5-3.
WSU added to the lead in the seventh behind a two-run home run by Fuecker, a solo home run by Alex Berreth, while a fourth run scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 9-3.
SMSU put together a rally in the seventh loading the bases behind a single by
Peyton Nash, a hit by pitch to
Brady Petron and a bunt single by
Jake Tauer. Following a strikeout, Nett was hit by a pitch to score a run, but the threat stopped there as a 6-4-3 double play ended the inning with WSU in front 9-4.
WSU stranded the bases loaded in the eighth allowing SMSU a chance to rally in the bottom of the frame. Haase started the rally with an infield single before Kalenberg and
Keenan Wenzel smacked singles to the load the bases with no outs. After a fly out, Petron delivered a two-run single to cut the lead to 9-6. Tauer worked a walk to reload the bases with McDaniel coming to the plate, but McDaniel was retired on a ground out to second to score just one run and trim the lead to 9-7. Nett came to the plate with the tying run at second but was retired on a line drive to the left fielder.
WSU added two big insurance runs in the ninth to build a four-run lead before SMSU put together one more comeback attempt. Latendresse doubled to start to the inning before Wenzel reached on a two-out throwing error to put runners on the corners. Nash answered in a big way with a run-scoring hit to make the score 11-8 and bring the tying run to the plate, but a four-pitch strikeout ended the rally.
Chmielewski (3-4) suffered the loss for the Mustangs after allowing five runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
Kalenberg led the SMSU offense with three hits, two runs and an RBI, while Nash, Petron and Latendresse each finished with two hits.
SMSU will now begin a five-game road swing next week with a doubleheader at nationally-ranked and league leading Augustana on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. SMSU will then play its final three regular season road games next Saturday and Sunday at the University of Mary.
