SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team suffered a 13-6 setback to Augustana University in non-conference action on Wednesday night from Ronken Field.
AU held a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh before putting the game out of reach with a three-run seventh, while adding four more runs in the eighth.
SMSU (14-10) collected 12 hits, but failed to come up with enough clutch hits early in the contest, finishing the game leaving 12 runners on base.
Jake Tauer paced the Mustangs finishing 3 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Chase McDaniel,
Isaac Nett and
Owen Latendresse all added two hits, with Nett belting his team-leading eighth home run of the season.
SMSU had a great chance to grab an early lead in the first inning, loading the bases with no outs, but a strikeout and double play ended the threat.
AU (18-6) scored four runs, two unearned, in the second inning to build a 4-0 off SMSU starting pitcher
Bennett Knapper.
SMSU cut the deficit in half in the fourth inning with Latendresse reaching via a leadoff single before
Max Kalenberg walked to put two runners on with no outs. Following back-to-back strikeouts, Tauer stroked a two-run single up the middle to make the score 4-2.
The Vikings would hit a solo home run before adding another unearned run in the home half of the fourth to extend the lead to 6-2.
The Mustangs left the bases loaded in the fifth and stranded two more in the sixth before Nett drilled an opposite field home run over the left field wall to open the seventh inning and trim the AU advantage to 6-3.
AU however countered with the big innings in the seventh and eighth innings to push the lead to 13-3.
SMSU pushed across three runs in the ninth behind a Latendresse RBI single, a
Peyton Nash run-scoring triple and a wild pitch to score Nash.
Knapper (0-1) pitched the first 2 1/3 innings to suffer the loss allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Noah Cekalla, the first of four Mustang relief pitchers, allowed two runs (one earned) in 2 2/3 innings with five strikeouts, while
Kobe Lovell struck out two batters while tossing a scoreless sixth inning.
SMSU will now return to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action this weekend with a four-game series versus Concordia-St. Paul at Legion Field. The series is set for on Saturday and Sunday, but could move up a day depending on weather. More information released on Thursday.
