MINNEAPOLIS – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team used a strong start from pitcher Carter Petron to earn a split with St. Cloud State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference baseball on Sunday night at US Bank Stadium.
 
Petron fired six shutout innings with eight strikeouts, while Tyler Froland belted his team-leading fifth home run of the season in a 5-0 victory in game one, but SCSU held off an SMSU rally in game two to earn a 5-4 victory.
 
SCSU, which won three of four in the weekend series, is now 9-9 overall, 5-3 NSIC, while SMSU is 8-6 overall, 3-5 NSIC. SMSU's victory in game one snapped an 11-game losing streak in the series, which dates back to 2019 and is just the second since the 2015 season.
 
Petron (2-1), who was coming off a start in which he walked seven and hit two batters, was dominate on Sunday, allowing just three hits and one walk. Cameron Jensen pitched a perfect seventh inning to secure the victory.
 
SMSU pushed across a single run in each of the first three innings to give Petron plenty of support. Froland drove in the first run of the game with a fielder's choice to score Levi Lampert in the top of the first. In the second, Jared Cortez singled to open the frame and later scored on a sac fly by Brock Woitalla. Froland would push the lead to 3-0 in the third with a two-out solo home run.
 
Woitalla opened the fifth inning with a single and moved to third moments later on a double by Lampert. Henry Hammrich followed with a sac fly to score Woitalla and give the Mustangs a 4-0 advantage.
 
SMSU added another run in the sixth with Owen Latendresse reaching on a one-out double and scoring on an RBI single by Brady Petron.
 
The Mustangs finished the opener with eight hits as Froland closed 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Lampert, Cortez, Latendresse, Woitalla, Petron and Cory Bantam each had one hit.
 
In game two, five SCSU pitchers combined to strikeout 15 Mustangs, while stranding 13 on base.
 
The Huskies opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a leadoff home run. The Mustangs tied the game in the second with Latendresse collecting a leadoff single and eventually scoring on a sac fly from Woitalla.
 
The score remained 1-1 until the fourth when SCSU belted a one-out, two-run home run to left-centerfield to make the score 3-1. SMSU picked up a run in the fifth with Lampert starting the rally with a walk and later scoring on a two-out balk.
 
Leading 3-2, SCSU pushed across two more in the fifth to chase SMSU starter Shay Endres and build a 5-2 advantage.
 
SMSU used four straight walks with two outs in the sixth to make the score 5-3, but the inning ended on a strikeout with the bases loaded. SMSU added an unearned run in the eighth with Woitalla sprinting across the plate on a passed ball. The Mustangs would put the tying and go-ahead runners in scoring position later in the inning, but a strikeout ended the rally.
 
SMSU would be retired in order in the ninth all via strikeout.
 
Endres (1-1) pitched 4 1/3 innings and finished allowing five runs on eight hits with two strikeouts. Jerod Cyrus allowed just one hit with one strikeout in 2 1/3 innings of relief, while Cullen Huppert and Bennett Knapper combined to retire four of the five batters they faced.
 
SMSU was limited to four hits with Latendresse leading the way with two, while Lampert and Hammrich each had one.
 
SMSU will return to action next weekend with a four-game series scheduled for Legion Field in Marshall on Saturday and Sunday.