No. 5 Wayne State 3,

No. 4 St. Cloud State 2

BISMARCK, N.D. — The fifth-seeded Wayne State Wildcats withstood a late rally from St. Cloud State to topple the Huskies 3-2 in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

Wayne State led 2-0 heading into the eighth inning when Marshall native Chase Douglas walked and then advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches to start the inning. He then scored what would be a necessary insurance run on a Colin Lynam sacrifice fly to right field, giving Wayne State a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, St. Cloud State didn’t give up easily. Tyler Schiller started the inning with a single and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice. Jacob Kneifl then relieved Corbin Kirk on the mound and, after retiring the first batter he faced, he allowed a two-run homer to Dehne to make it a one-run game. 

The Wildcats then brought in Braden Cannon for Kneifl, who allowed a single and a double to put the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third, but a lineout ended the inning with Wayne State’s lead still intact.

Each team put one runner on in the ninth inning but neither team had the runner advance past first base, allowing Wayne State to hold on for the win.

Corbin pitched the first 7 1/3 innings for Wayne State, holding the Huskies to one run on five hits and a pair of walks to improve to 6-2 on the season. Cannon’s 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief helped him pick up his fifth save of the season.

Kyler Essink first gave Wayne State the lead in the second inning when he hit a solo home run. 

In the sixth, Quinn McCafferty singled to lead off the inning, advanced on a single and a ground out and scored on a wild pitch to make the score 2-0.

McCafferty finished the day with a single and a walk while Cam Madsen singled twice, making them the only players to safely reach base twice in the game for Wayne State. Cal James had a double and a pair of singles for St. Cloud State while Garrett Bevacqua and Dehne each also had a pair of hits.

Kaden Pfeffer fell to 5-1 on the season with the loss. He held Wayne State to two runs on five hits and no walks over seven innings. Cael Kolacia allowed one run on one hit in three walks during his relief appearance for the team.

Wayne State will play Augustana in the second round of the winner’s bracket in Bismarck today at 3:30 p.m. while St. Cloud State will play Concordia-St. Paul in the elimination bracket in Bismarck at noon.

No. 2 MSU 5, No. 7 UMary 1

MANDAN, N.D. — The second-seeded Minnesota State Mavericks made use of a four-run fourth inning to jump past No. 7 UMary for a 5-1 win in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament on Wednesday.

Minnesota State first captured the lead in the second inning, when Ryan Friedges doubled and eventually scored on a passed ball. Two innings later, he hit a two-run home run to give Minnesota State a 3-0 lead.

Even after Friedges’ homer, the Mavericks continued to score in the fourth. Lincoln Berry got no base with a single and Hunter Ranweiler drove him in with a single. Zach Stroh hit another single shortly thereafter to drive in Ranweiler for a 5-0 Minnesota State lead.

Mitch Gutknecht pitched all nine innings for Minnesota State, holding UMary to one run on four hits and a walk. He also struck out 14 batters to improve to 4-3 on the season.

Lukas Frers fell to 3-6 on the year after recording the loss for UMary. He allowed five runs on 11 hits over four innings. In relief, Alex Danen pitched one scoreless inning while Joel McGrath pitched another three to prevent the Mavericks from doing any further damage.

UMary’s lone run came in the eighth when Dylan Edmands hit a solo homer to make the score 5-1. Daniel Martin had the Marauders’ only other extra-base hit, a double, and no UMary players finished the day with multiple hits.

Minnesota State will play Southwest Minnesota State University in the winner’s bracket today at 3:30 p.m. in Mandan, N.D. while UMary will face Minnesota Crookston in the elimination bracket in Bismarck, N.D. at noon. 

No. 1 Augustana 19, No. 8 CSP 3

MANDAN, N.D. — The Augustana baseball team didn’t pull punches on Wednesday night, proving to any remaining doubters why they deserve to be the No. 1 seed in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament. The Vikings drubbed the No. 8 Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears by a final score of 19-3 to run away with a first-round victory in the tournament.

Concordia-St. Paul got on the board first when Bryce Nelson drove in Jaden Werner with an RBI single in the second inning. From there, however, it was all Augustana.

Parker Mooney gave the Vikings their first lead of the game with a two-run home run. They never let go. Max Mosser and Jack Hines drove in one run each in the inning and a Drew Dirksen two-run home run quickly turned the Vikings’ 1-0 deficit into a 6-1 lead over the course of a half inning.

Augustana piled on another seven runs in the third inning and another five runs in the fifth to go up 18-1, their largest lead of the game. Concordia-St. Paul was only able to muster up another two runs in the sixth but never cut the deficit back to single-digit runs.

In addition to Mooney and Dirksen, Ryan Clementi, Tate Meiners and Ragan Pinnow each also homered for the Vikings. Clementi also had a double while going 4 of 5 at the plate and Meiners’ four RBIs — three of which came on his home run — were a game-high.

Caleb Saari picked up the win on the mound to improve to 8-1 on the season. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk over seven innings while also striking out eight batters.

Riley Rothschadl and Logan Von Berge each pitched a shutout inning of relief.

Korey Dahlberg was tagged for 11 runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks in 2 2/3 frames for CSP. Reece Piontek was also charged with another seven earned runs on four hits and three walks over 1 1/3 frames.

Logan Shaffer started to get things under control, holding Augustana to one run with a hit and a walk over three innings, and David Salz threw a shutout eighth inning. Yet, the Vikings had pulled too far ahead for the Golden Bears to capitalize.

Augustana will play Wayne State in the second round of the winner’s bracket in Bismarck today at 3:30 p.m. while Concordia-St. Paul will play St. Cloud State in the elimination bracket in Bismarck at noon.