TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team closed out its spring trip with a perfect 6-0 record following a 15-10 victory over Carthage College (Wis.) on Tuesday morning.
 
Jared Cortez smacked five hits and was hit by a pitch, while finishing with four RBIs to pace the Mustang offense.
 
SMSU used six pitchers in the game with Tyler Nesheim (1-0) starting and earning the victory retiring all six batters he faced with four strikeouts.
 
SMSU has now won eight straight games and improves to 12-5 overall. The win streak is the longest for the program since the 2010 team won 11 in a row.
 
The Mustangs finished the game with 11 hits, while taking advantage of nine walks and seven hit by pitches by the Firebirds pitching staff.
 
Brock Woitalla had a pair of hits for the Mustangs and scored three times with teammate Connor Davis scoring three runs after working two walks and getting hit by a pair of pitches. Tanner Rezny closed the game with three RBIs, including belting a two-run home run in the ninth inning.
 
SMSU scored six runs in the second and three more in the third to build a 9-0 advantage but Carthage (3-4) rallied with three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth to cut the deficit to 9-5.
 
SMSU expanded the lead to 12-5 in the sixth behind an infield RBI single by Woitalla and a run-scoring base hit by Nathan Wheeler.
 
The Firebirds plated three more runs in the seventh to keep the game close at 12-8, but the Mustangs added an insurance run in the eighth on a Henry Hammrich RBI sac bunt, before Renzy added the two-run homer in the ninth.
 
The Mustangs return to conference play this weekend with a three-game series versus Concordia-St. Paul. Game dates and location will be updated in the next day due to expected poor weather in the Marshall area.