MARSHALL, Minn. – On a windy day in Marshall, the Minnesota State University baseball team, cracked out 20 hits and belted eight home runs in earning a 24-5 victory in seven innings over Southwest Minnesota State in NSIC baseball at Legion Field on Sunday.
 
MSU, ranked No. 28 in this week's ABCA Top 30 polls, remains in first place in the league standings and improves to 25-8 overall, 18-3 NSIC. SMSU drops to 16-20 overall, 6-18 NSIC. The teams split Saturday's doubleheader with SMSU winning the opener 4-1, before MSU won game two, 10-4.
 
SMSU connected on three home runs on Sunday with Caden King hitting his first collegiate home run, while Carter Lang and Connor Davis each hit one.
 
MSU's Louis Magers and Cole Yearsley both hit two home runs for the Mavericks, which scored at least one run in all seven innings.
 
MSU scored a single run in the first and then hit three home runs in the second while scoring five runs. Trailing 6-0 in the second, Lang hit an opposite field home run—his first round-tripper of the season.
 
King hit his home run in the fourth for SMSU's second run before the Mustangs added three runs in the fifth. Davis belted a leadoff homer to start the rally while Henry Hammrich and King each lofted sac flies to plate the final two runs of the game.
 
MSU put the game away with a seven-run sixth inning.
 
Cody Wichmann (2-2) started on the mound for the Mustangs and lasted three innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
 
SMSU closed the game with 12 hits as Jared Cortez finished 3 for 4, while Davis and Lang each had two hits. Josh Berreth, Hammrich, King, Lane Moline and Nathan Wheeler each had one base hit.
 
SMSU, in the midst of an eight-game homestand, will host Winona State on Wednesday with a doubleheader beginning at 1:30 p.m.