KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team collected 25 hits and used a pair of strong pitching performances to earn a non-conference doubleheader sweep over Truman State (Mo.) on Saturday afternoon at Bulldog Park, winning 13-3 and 14-3.
 
SMSU (6-5), which won three of four games in the series, won the opener behind six strong innings from starting pitcher Jameson Quinn and three hits and five RBIs from Levi Lampert. In game two, Ryan Bell scattered five hits in six innings with no walks to help the Mustangs complete the sweep.
 
In the opener, SMSU trailed 1-0 in the third before scoring four runs on three hits in the top of the third. Lampert drove in the first run with an RBI double before Jared Cortez put SMSU in front on a sac fly. Connor Davis smacked an RBI single while Carter Lang followed with a run-scoring double to push the score to 4-1.
 
The Bulldogs (5-6) cut the deficit to 4-3 after three innings, but the Mustang offense would come alive and score at least one run in the final four frames.
 
Henry Hammrich belted a solo home run in the fourth to make the score 5-3, before SMSU added three runs in the fifth behind an RBI double by Lang and two-run homer by Tanner Rezny, his second of the series, to push the margin to 7-3 after five innings.
 
Lampert belted a two-run homer in the sixth and added a two-run single in the seventh, while Hammrich also added an RBI double in the final frame to give SMSU the 10-run victory.
 
Lampert finished 3 for 5 with five RBIs and two runs scored in the win, while Lang, Hammrich and Rezny each collected two hits and two RBIs.
 
Quinn (1-1) earned the victory allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.
 
In game two, Bell (1-2) pitched six innings with two strikeouts and no walks, while allowing five hits and three runs. After allowing the first batter of the game to reach via a base hit, Bell retired 14 straight batters from the first inning until two outs in the fifth inning.
 
SMSU scored runs in the second and third innings behind a solo home run by Nathan Wheeler in the second before Jared Cortez sprinted home a wild pitch in the third.
 
Leading 2-0 in the fifth, the Mustangs put the game away with an eight-run frame with six hits. Brock Woitalla smacked a two-run triple while Caden King hit a two-run double to highlight the big inning.
 
Holding an 11-3 advantage in the seventh, SMSU plated three more runs with King, Tyler Froland and Wheeler each delivering run-scoring singles.
 
Cortez finished 3 for 3 with three runs scored, while Wheeler and King each added two hits to pace SMSU's 13-hit offense.  
 
Charlie Jacobson and Ryan Dalager combined to toss a scoreless seventh to seal the win.
 
SMSU will now head to Tucson, Ariz., to play six non-conference games starting on Thursday, March 5.