MARSHALL, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston used a pair of home runs from Kyler Miller and put the game away with a four-run ninth inning to defeat Southwest Minnesota State 9-4 in NSIC college baseball on Sunday afternoon at Legion Field.
 
UMC won two of the three in the weekend series and improves to 16-19 overall, 13-12 NSIC, while SMSU drops to 20-12 overall, 15-10 NSIC.
 
Miller, the nine hitter in the UMC line-up, came into the game batting .216, but he belted a solo home run to start the scoring in the third inning and then drilled an opposite field two-run homer in the sixth to extend the Golden Eagles lead to 5-0.
 
SMSU rallied to cut the deficit to 5-4 after six innings, but Miller started another UMC rally in the ninth with a leadoff single to help the Golden Eagles put the game away with a four-run ninth.
 
SMSU starting pitcher Carter Petron (4-3) tossed a solid game, firing six innings and allowing five runs (three earned) on five hits with six strikeouts, three walks and one hit by batter.
 
Cameron Jensen held UMC scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Golden Eagles came through with four runs on five hits in the final frame.
 
Trailing 5-0 in the sixth and recording just one hit through five innings off UMC starter Nate Benning, SMSU was finally able to break through on the UMC bullpen in the sixth. Henry Hammrich opened the inning with a single and sprinted to third on a double by Levi Lampert. A pair of run-scoring groundouts by Jared Cortez and Cory Bantam cut the deficit to 5-2, while a two-out fielding error by Miller at shortstop on a ball hit by Owen Latendresse kept the inning alive. The Mustangs took advantage with Evan Behn slapping a two-out single to right and pushing Latendresse to third. Moments later, Latendresse scored on a passed ball, while Carter Lang dropped in an RBI single to score Behn and cut the deficit to 5-4. Brock Woitalla walked to put the go-ahead run on base, but a strikeout ended the Mustang rally.
 
Behn led the six-hit SMSU offense with a pair of hits, while Lampert, Bantam, Lang and Hammrich each had one.
 
Benning (3-2) allowed one hit in five shutout innings with six strikeouts and one walk to earn the victory.
 
SMSU continues league play on Tuesday with a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader at Northern State.