Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University pitcher Cody Wichmann delivers the baseball during a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference baseball doubleheader against Wayne State College (Neb.) on Wednesday at Milroy Yankee Field. The Mustangs swept the Wildcats by scores of 5-4 and 12-4.

MILROY — Cody Wichmann earned a win in his first career start for the Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchup on Wednesday at Yankee Field. 

The Balaton native and 2023 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton graduate went seven innings on the mound in game 2 of SMSU’s doubleheader against Wayne State, helping SMSU to a 12-4 win after they had won the first game 5-4 behind a Jared Cortez sixth-inning home run. 

“It felt really good to get out there, and coach allowed me to go out there and just compete,” Wichmann said when asked how it felt to get his first career win in his starting debut. “And for the guys hitting, I think it just really felt good for them to start swinging and taking pitches. They’re up there hitting and having fun, and that’s basically the best part of the game is just being out there having fun with it.”

True freshman Jameson Quinn also had a no-hitter going through five innings for the Mustangs in the day’s first game, but had to settle for the no-decision after being pulled in the fifth inning.

At the plate, the Mustangs were consistent in their ability to come up with timely hits. Jared Cortez went yard twice for the Mustangs while Cory Bantam and Levi Lampert each hit another to set the tone for the Mustangs’ pair of come-from-behind wins.

SMSU improves to 19-10 on the season, and its 14-8 conference record is good for third in the NSIC. At the time of print, they sit one game back of second-place Augustana and one game ahead of fourth-place Wayne State.

Chase Douglas, a former Marshall Tiger now in his senior season with Wayne State, also hit a two-run home run to give the Wildcats an early lead in game 2.

The Mustangs will return to action on Saturday and Sunday when they host Minnesota Crookston (14-18, 11-11) for a three-game series, SMSU’s first of the season at Legion Field in Marshall. Saturday’s doubleheader is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. while Sunday’s game is scheduled for noon. 

“We’ll miss Milroy a little bit, we play really well here for whatever reason that is, but it’ll be good to be home,” SMSU head coach Jeremy Ische joked, noting that Marshall is now 6-0 at Yankee Field this season. “Crookston’s a very good ball club. They’re well-coached, they’re tough, they’ve got some fight in them and it’ll be a really competitive three-game series in Marshall.”

GAME 1

Wayne State 4

Cortez gave SMSU the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth, belting a solo home run just right of the left field scoreboard to bring SMSU ahead, 5-4. 

The home run came just three pitches after Lampert reached first base on a bunt single, but it was called back as an out due to basepath interference. 

Wayne State held the lead for the first four-and-a-half innings before Bantam propelled the Mustangs ahead. He came up to bat with two runners on after Lampert walked and Jared Cortez hit a bloop single. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Bantam got all of a pitch, lining it deep into right field for a three-run homer and a 4-2 SMSU lead.

“Cory’s been doing really good things for us here, and that was a huge home run for us in game one,” Ische said, adding that Cortez also put a great swing on the bat to help SMSU respond to the interference call. “We’ve got a bunch of small-town, country kids that have some grit. They’re blue collar and they’re a fun group of kids to coach because they don’t give up and they believe in themselves… We had more guys get walked or get hit by pitches for us than struck out today, and that’s a winning formula.”

The Wildcats replaced Kyler Hanson on the mound with Jacob Kneifl, who got the first out before walking Carter Lang and Brock Woitalla with an Owen Latendresse walk in between to load the bases. Still, a line out by Henry Hammrich and a Caleb Gardow ground out ended the frame without any further damage by the Mustangs. 

SMSU starting pitcher Quinn threw five no-hit innings before being pulled after giving up a leadoff single in the sixth. After getting out the first batter, Kaden Young hit a two-run homer to left field to tie the game at four runs apiece. 

Quinn finished the day allowing one earned run on two walks and a hit with five strikeouts. 

Quinn hit the first batter he faced and Chase Douglas reached base on a fielding error by Lang at third to put two runners on. Quinn got a strikeout to put two down with runners on second and third, but an error by Lampert in right field allowed two runs to score. 

Bantam led the Mustangs with three hits for three RBIs in the game, including a home run and a double. 

Woitalla also made an error at short for the Mustangs’ third of the first half-inning but no further runs scored. SMSU finished the game with a total of four errors, including two by Woitalla, to Wayne State’s none. 

“Coming ready to play is important, and I don’t necessarily think we did that in game one, but I am proud of the way these guys persevered,” Ische said. “It was one of the messiest first innings I’ve ever seen in my life. To come back and win the baseball game after giving them seven free bases in the first inning is something I’m proud of, just our kids response to that and not quitting, not giving up, keep playing and keep competing.”

The Mustangs got back a run in the bottom of the first when a Cortez single and a Bantam double put two runners in scoring position. An Evan Behn ground out drove in one run, and Lang was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners, but an Owen Latendresse fly out to left field left the tying run stranded at third. 

Hanson allowed four earned runs over four innings on six hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Kneiffl pitched a scoreless inning of relief, giving up a hit and two walks before Conlin Grady took over in the sixth. 

Jensen retired the side in order in the seventh inning to earn the win, improving to 2-0 on the season. He allowed one run on one hit with a pair of strikeouts in the relief appearance.

Grady allowed one earned run on one hit over one inning to close out the game for Wayne State. His record drops to 0-2 on the season. 

GAME 2

Wayne State 4

SMSU claimed its first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs and facing a 3-2 deficit, Henry Hammrich walked and Caleb Gardow was hit by a pitch. Levi Lampert made the most of the opportunity, hitting a two-run double into right-center field to score Hammrich easily. The Wildcats attempted to make a play at the plate, but Gardow beat the throw to put SMSU up 4-3. 

While the Wildcats jumped out to an early lead, Wichmann was lights-out on the mound after the third inning. He finished the day with seven innings pitched and retired 21 of the 23 batters he faced after the third frame. His debut statline as a starter included four earned runs allowed on five hits, two walks and three strikeouts. 

“Gardy [Caleb Gardow] was just giving me some good calls,” Wichmann said of his ability to find his rhythm after the third inning. “After giving up two bombs, I didn’t really feel the best on myself. But as a team, it just felt that we had to come back with our runs and our hits, and we were able to do that and have fun with it.”

While Wichmann’s longest outing prior to the start was just 1 1/3 innings, and he had pitched a total of 2 1/3 innings over the course of his freshman season. Still, he said he went into Wednesday’s game expecting to go deep. He added that he really appreciated the way his teammates supported him as he made his starting debut.

Wayne State led 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third when SMSU first got on the board with a pair of runs on a two-run homer from Jared Cortez just over the left-field fence, also scoring Lampert on the play.

The Mustangs padded their lead in the fifth inning with another four runs. They started the inning with consecutive walks to Bantam and Behn, and Latendresse hit a single to score Bantam before advancing to second on an error.

Bantam, Behn and Woitalla each finished the game with three of the Mustangs’ 16 hits while Lampert added another two hits for four RBIs. Lampert and Behn each also hit a double in the win. 

The rally continued with another single by Woitolla, scoring Behn easily and scoring Latendresse on another Wayne State error. Hammrich capped off the rally with another RBI single to make the score 8-3 in favor of SMSU. 

Brooks Kneifl took the loss for Wayne State on the mound, allowing three earned and one unearned run on five hits over 3 2/3 innings. Keinan Lentell and Eli Crnkovich each also allowed three earned runs over 2/3 of an inning for Lentell and two innings for Crnkovich.

Douglas hit a two-run homer in the first inning to give Wayne State an early edge and a Max Heard fly ball into left field was carried by the wind just past the fence for a 3-0 Wildcat advantage.

In the seventh inning, Lampert hit a two-run homer and Behn hit an RBI single to make the score 11-4. After Wayne State pushed across a run with an RBI single from Quinn McCafferty in the top of the eighth, SMSU added one last run with a Woitalla RBI single in the bottom of the frame.

Jerod Cyrus and Austin Dent each pitched a scoreless inning of relief with one strikeout for SMSU, with Dent retiring each of the three batters he faced and Cyrus retiring three of the five.