MANDAN, N.D. — A day after capturing their first opening-round victory since 2009, the Southwest Minnesota State baseball team had their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament come to an end on Thursday. The sixth-seeded Mustangs couldn’t match the offensive production of No. Minnesota State in their opening game at Veterans Memorial Field, dropping them down to the elimination bracket where No. 8 Concordia-St. Paul rallied late to end the Mustangs’ season.

No. 2 MSU 15, No. 6 SMSU 2

Minnesota State set the tone of the game early with a three-run homer from Lincoln Berry to give the Mavericks an early 3-0 lead. They scored another run on a Ryan Wickman RBI double in the fourth inning and a one-run single from Ryan Friedges and a two-run single from Nick Baker gave Minnesota State a 7-0 lead.

Max Kalenberg gave SMSU its only runs of the game with a two-run home run in the top of the seventh, driving in Jaxon Haase on the play as well, but the Mavericks responded with another seven runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game right back out of reach.

Chase McDaniel was the only Mustang to reach base multiple times, singling twice, while Owen Latendresse hit a double to join Kalenberg as the only Mustangs with extra-base hits.

Carter Petron allowed seven runs in four innings of work as the starter. He allowed 10 hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts as he dropped to 6-2.

In relief, Kobe Lovell and Bennett Knapper combined to pitch two scoreless innings. Jerod Cyrus allowed three earned runs and two unearned without getting an out while Cody Wichmann and Will Hoernemann each pitched one inning, allowing two and one earned runs respectively.

Sam George picked up the win for Minnesota State, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings, while Cale Haugen and Ben Irsfeld pitched one and two scoreless, hitless innings respectively.

The win advanced Minnesota State to the winner’s bracket finals, in which they will play top-seeded Augustana today at noon in Mandan, N.D. The loss dropped SMSU down to the elimination bracket.

Game 2

No. 8 CSP 8, No. 6 SMSU 4

SMSU led 3-2 heading into the sixth inning when Concordia-St. Paul flipped the script on the Mustangs. Bryce Nelson hit an RBI double and scored on Mason Nadolney’s two-run home run to give the Golden Bears a 6-3 lead, their first time leading all game. In the next inning, Bennett McCollow scored on a balk, Noah Juliar hit an RBI double and Nelson hit an RBI single to bring the Golden Bears’ lead to 8-3.

SMSU had one last shot at extending their season in the bottom of the ninth. Jake Tauer doubled with one out and, after a fly out, Peyton Nash hit an RBI single to score Tauer. Still, another fly out ended the game with the Mustang rally coming up short.

The Mustangs claimed an early lead when Chase McDaniel reached on an error and scored when Max Kalenberg singled to right field.

Concordia-St. Paul tacked on a run in the top of the fourth to tie the game but Keenan Wenzel homered for the second time this tournament in the bottom of the frame. Owen Latendresse had already singled in the inning, making Wenzel’s shot to left field a two-run homer for a 3-1 SMSU lead.

Ryan Chmielewski recorded the loss to drop to 3-7 on the year. He struck out 10 batters over 5 1/3 innings but allowed five earned runs on six hits and four walks. Shay Endres allowed another three runs on four hits in one inning while Cameron Jensen closed out the game by holding CSP to one hit and no runs over 2 2/3 frames.

Ian Segna picked up the win for CSP to improve to 6-1 on the year, allowing two earned runs and one unearned over six innings. He struck out five batters while allowing five hits and a walk.

Jack Nicklaus earned the save after pitching three innings for CSP, holding SMSU to one earnd run on three hits with a strikeout.

Concordia-St. Paul will now play No. 5 Wayne State in the elimination bracket today at

SMSU finishes its first season under head coach Jeremy Ische with a 27-24 overall record and a 20-19 conference record. While the Mustangs’ record is worse than last seasons 27-17 mark (19-13 NSIC, fifth place), this year’s team grabbed its first tournament win since 2014.

SMSU will graduate a large senior class. McDaniel graduates with the program record in single-season and career hits records, Kolby Kiser ranks fourth all-time in strikeouts and strikeouts per 9 innings and Isaac Nett is sixth in career home runs for the program.

Ansen Dulas is also fifth in the Mustang leaderboards in strikeouts per 9 and Kobe Lovell is the SMSU leader in career appearances on the mound.

Also graduating are Tracy native Jake Tauer, Peyton Nash, Logan McCray, Jaxon Haase, Max Kalenberg, Brady Brosz and Hayden Molva.