SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball suffered another gut-wrenching loss on Wednesday night as the University of Sioux Falls scored two runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to rally for a 12-11 victory in game two and complete a doubleheader sweep in NSIC action at Sioux Falls Stadium.
 
USF, which won the opener 6-2, took advantage of SMSU miscues to score eight unearned runs and improve to 17-15 overall, 13-6 NSIC. The Cougars' Mitch Iliff belted four home runs in the two games, including three in game two. His two-run homer in the eighth completed the comeback.
 
It was another tough loss for the Mustangs, which has now suffered seven losses in league play with the opponent scoring the winning run in their final at bat. SMSU is now 15-18 overall, 5-16 NSIC.
 
SMSU, which out-hit USF 16-13, and held leads of 4-0 and 11-8, closed with its second highest hit total of the season. Jared Cortez, Levi Lampert and Brock Woitalla each had three hits with Cortez and Lampert scoring three times. Connor Davis and Carter Lang both had two hits with Davis driving in four runs. Josh Berreth finished with three RBIs, including belting a two-run home run.
 
Ryan Bell started for SMSU and tossed a solid 6 1/3 innings, allowing just two earned runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and one walk. Carson Bougher (0-1) suffered the loss allowing two runs on four hits.
 
SMSU opened the scoring in the first inning with Lampert hitting an RBI single and Davis driving in a run with a sac fly. The lead moved to 4-0 in the second behind a sac fly by Lampert and a run-scoring, two-out single by Davis.
 
USF rallied in the second, scoring seven runs, six unearned, taking advantage of two SMSU errors to take the lead at 7-4.
 
Lang cut the deficit to 7-5 with an RBI single to score Lampert, but USF answered the run with an unearned run on a two-out throwing error to build an 8-5 advantage.
 
SMSU regained the lead with a big fifth inning, plating six runs on five hits. Caden King started the uprising with a single and scored on a double by Woitalla. After a throwing error and single by Lampert loaded the bases, Davis put SMSU in the lead with a bases-clearing double to make the score 9-8. Two batters later, Berreth smacked a two-run home run down the right field line to push the margin to 11-8.
 
Unfortunately, the SMSU offense was held in check for the remainder of the game as just one Mustang batter, a Cortez two-out single in the sixth, reached base in the final four innings.
 
Bell tossed two straight scoreless innings to keep SMSU in the lead, but an Iliff leadoff homer in the seventh and another throwing error allowed another run to score and cut the lead to 11-10. Bougher allowed two hits in the seventh, but recorded a key strikeout with the bases loaded to keep the Mustangs in the lead.
 
USF however completed the rally in the eighth with an infield single prior to Iliff's two-run homer.
 
In the opener, Iliff belted a three-run homer in the first inning off SMSU starting pitcher Tad Tjaden. USF added another run in the second before Tjaden fired three scoreless innings.
 
SMSU scored a single run in the fourth behind a Berreth double and sac fly by Evan Behn and then cut the deficit in half in the sixth behind an RBI single by Davis to score Cortez.
 
The Cougars would add two insurance runs in the sixth behind a two-run home run.
 
Tjaden (1-2) pitched all six innings and allowed six runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and two walks.
 
Cortez led SMSU with two hits, while Davis, Berreth and Lang each had one hit.
 
SMSU returns to action this Saturday and Sunday with a three-game home series versus Minnesota State.