Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University shortstop Brock Woitalla (8) celebrates a home run with teammates Lane Moline (20) and Nathan Wheeler (3) during Saturday's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader against St. Cloud State at Legion Field in Marshall.

MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota State University got more baseball than it bargained for in its weekend series against St. Cloud State. Hosting the Huskies for a three-game series in its home opener, the Mustangs went into extra innings each game, falling 11-7 and 6-4 in a pair of eight-inning games on Saturday before stopping the sweep with a 14-12 win in 10 innings on Sunday.

Josh Berreth played the hero in Sunday’s win, launching a two-run homer down the right-field line to clinch the win in the 10th inning. The Mustang dugout cleared out onto the field to greet Berreth at home plate as he crossed for the game-winning run, with Jared Cortez bringing out the water cooler to dump on Berreth in the celebration.

The Mustangs nearly scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning of the first game, but the call was overturned and the game remained tied at six runs apiece. St. Cloud State capitalized in extra innings with five runs to secure the win.

In the second game, the score was tied at 4-4 after the seventh, but the Huskies got a solo homer on the first at-bat of the eighth and held on for the win.

SMSU infielder Tanner Rezny left in the first inning of the second game with an injury. Rezny fouled off a pitch that came off the bat and went right back up into his face. The Husky infielders and the pair of SMSU baserunners came together and took a knee around second base to form a prayer circle as Rezny was carted out to the ambulance. He held up a hand to the crowd as he was wheeled off, drawing an ovation of support from the crowd.

“It’s a super weird thing. You don’t see it very often and it’s not something you’d wish on your worst enemy,” SMSU manager Jeremy Ische said. “Tanner’s a great kid, we love him to death here… just praying to god he’s okay.”

Cortez led SMSU’s batters with six hits and four RBIs over the course of the doubleheader while Woitalla added another three hits — two homers and a double — with five RBIs.

Sunday’s win brings SMSU back above .500 on the year at 14-13 (4-11 NSIC). Of the Mustangs’ 13 losses, nine have either been decided by two or fewer runs or in extra innings.

“You’ve got to make a decision to… be really competitive and continue to care and not give in,” Ische said. “We’re right there. You’re just a wild pitch, a double off the wall, a hit batter away from really flipping some things around and you’ve gotta stay optimistic and positive. We’re doing things right, it’s nobody’s fault, just have to keep competing.”

GAME 1 (8 inn.)

ST. CLOUD STATE 11, SMSU 7

Hayden Konkol drew a leadoff walk and Max Robinson followed up with a single, putting runners on the corners when the Mustangs brought in Austin Dent to relieve Lincoln Vasgaard on the mound. The pitching change wasn’t enough to keep the game tied, however, as Hayden Frank bounced a two-run single into the gap to give the Huskies an 8-6 lead.

St. Cloud State continued to pile on from there. Liam Moreno singled to put two runners on, and Ryan Cahoon followed with another RBI single to bring the score to 9-6, prompting another pitching change for the Mustangs with Carson Bougher taking the mound. The Huskies proceeded to score another pair of runs and held off SMSU in the bottom of the frame to hold onto the win.

The Mustangs momentarily appeared to have taken the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Levi Lampert got all the way to second after reaching base on an error on a fielder’s choice, and Tanner Rezny followed up with a walk to put two runners on with two outs. Henry Hammrich capitalized by smashing a single into left field, and Lampert ran all the way home. Yet, after a lengthy review, the officials ruled that Rezny was tagged out at third before Lampert touched home plate.

Despite a stretch of 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, Vasgaard was charged with his first loss of the season in the outing. He gave up two earned runs on two hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings. Dent also gave up three hits and three earned runs without getting an out, while Bougher and Ryan Dalager each got one of the final two outs.

St. Cloud State took its first lead of the day in the top of the fourth. St. Cloud State put runners on first and second with a single and a hit batter, and Cahoon capitalized with a two-run double to center field.

Wilmis Castro, brother of former Twins all-star infielder Willi Castro, followed up by crushing a pitch to center field, and Henry Hammrich wasn’t able to make the diving grab as the ball rolled to the wall and Castro advanced to third for an RBI triple.

SMSU starting pitcher Cody Wichmann was pulled after the Castro triple, finishing his day with six earned runs allowed on nine hits and a pair of walks over 3 2/3 innings.

The windy weather over Legion Field carried the ball beyond the fence early and often. Lampert went yard on SMSU’s first at-bat of the game before Wyatt Tweet answered with a solo shot off the centerfield scoreboard in the top of the second.

Brock Woitalla answered with yet another home run to lead off the bottom of the second, a deep shot to left-center field, and with two outs, Lampert walked before scoring on a Jared Cortez double to give the Mustangs a two-run cushion.

Cortez and Woitalla were the Mustangs’ offensive leaders in the game. Woitalla had a pair of home runs and four RBIs in four at-bats, while Cortez had a double and two singles with two RBIs in five at-bats.

The insurance didn’t help protect the lead for long; Castro smashed a line drive to straightaway center field with two outs in the top of the third, and Eric Bello hit a bloop single, stole second and scored on a Tweet single to tie up the game at three runs apiece.

With two outs and Henry Hammrich on first, Tyler Froland hit a ground ball to third but a throwing error allowed the two runners to advance into scoring position.

Jacob Merrill replaced Froland as a pinch runner on second, but the change proved unnecessary. Brock Woitalla stepped up to the plate and, facing a 1-2 count, belted a ball over the center field wall to tie up the game with a three-run homer.

Bryce Brassfield pitched the first five innings for St. Cloud State, giving up three earned and three unearned runs in a no-decision. He struck out four batters while surrendering six hits and three walks in the outing. In relief, Seth Luther earned the win after limiting the Mustangs to one earned run on three hits and a pair of walks over three innings.

Nate Wheeler singled in the bottom of the eighth and scored on a Jared Cortez single with two outs, but St. Cloud State’s five-run cushion entering the inning was too much to overcome as a ground out ended the game in the next at-bat.

SCSU 6, SMSU 4

St. Cloud State surged ahead in the eighth inning with a go-ahead solo homer by Tweet in the inning’s first at-bat. After facing one batter in the game, Dent was relieved by Tyler Nesheim, but Bello singled and scored on a Frank single to give the Huskies a 6-4 cushion before Woitolla slid into a backhand stop to get the inning-ending out.

Dent was charged with the loss to fall to 2-3 on the year, and Nesheim pitched the last inning of relief giving up one earned run on two hits and a walk.

Jameson Quinn pitched the first seven innings for SMSU, limiting the Huskies to two earned runs on nine hits and a walk. He also struck out three batters, though SMSU’s three errors resulted in him being tagged with another pair of unearned runs.

SMSU was held without a hit from the third inning until a Lampert infield single put runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but a pop out ended the ballgame with a Husky victory.

“We played a really good baseball team there in extra innings in both games today [Saturday], and we’re obviously on the short end of the stick, but you’ve just got to keep competing and got to keep playing well,” Ische said. “You’ve got to keep just being really fundamental, and we had a good response. We have a good group of kids, they play hard, they’re Mustangs, and that’s what we enjoy about it.”

Lampert started out the bottom of the first with an unconventional way of reaching third. He dribbled a pitch down the first baseline and an errant throw by the pitcher bounced off Lampert’s leg, allowing him to advance to second. As he slid into second, the throw from the outfield was again errant and Lampert popped back up and continued running to third on the second error of the play.

Cortez sent Lampert home with a single into no-man’s land behind second base for the go-ahead run, and Hammrich worked a five-pitch walk to put two runners on with no outs when the Huskies paused the game for a mound visit.

Moreno led off the fifth inning by getting all the way to second on a high throw by Wheeler, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Castro.

An error by Josh Berreth in left field allowed Robinson to reach base with two outs and Tweet followed with a bloop single into shallow left field, but Woitalla fielded a grounder and flipped it to Cortez at second to get out of the jam with the game still tied.

AJ Kahler earned the win for St. Cloud State after four scoreless innings of relief, limiting SMSU to one hit and a pair of walks while striking out five batters. AJ Price pitched the first four innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits and four walks with seven strikeouts.

St. Cloud State tied the game up in the top of the second when, with two outs, Bello reached base on a ground-ball single and scored on a throwing error on a Jonathan Pribula double. Pribula advanced to third on the error and scored on a wild pitch to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the frame in its first turn at-bat after the Rezny injury, the Mustangs put together a two-out rally of their own. Caden King doubled and Lampert walked to put runners on the corners, and Cortez lined a single into right field to score King. A wild pitch then allowed Lampert to score the go-ahead run before a called third strike ended the frame with a 3-2 Mustang lead.

“We just had to get to the point of just, you’ve got to compete. And we talked about in the second inning, there’s going to be adversity, there are going to be bad things that happen to you, how do you respond? How do you react,” Ische said. “I thought our guys did a nice job in the middle part of that game competing and giving great effort.”

Frank doubled and scored the tying run when Moreno lined a single into shallow center field in the top of the third. Still, Cortez fielded a hard-hit ground ball up the middle, tagged the bag and made the off-balance throw to first for a 4-3 double play to clear the basepaths.

Connor Davis drew an unconventional walk in the third when he started to step out of the batters box facing a 3-2 count, but wasn’t granted time as Price started his windup. Davis stepped back into the box, took the pitch for ball four, and was granted a walk after the officiating crew discussed whether or not the ball was in play.

With Davis on first, Josh Berreth dropped down a bunt single and an error on the play allowed Davis to advance to third. Davis was held up on a fly out despite an off-line throw from the outfield, but Woitalla came up clutch by lining a double down the left field line to score Davis for a 4-3 Mustang lead.

After a strikeout, King walked to load the bases with two outs but a hard-hit ball from Lampert was caught in left field to leave the three runners stranded.

SUNDAY

SMSU 14, SCSU 12 (10 inn.)

Henry Hammrich was hit by the first pitch of his at-bat to put the winning run on first with one out in the bottom of the 10th. The extra base runner proved unnecessary, as Berreth stepped up to the plate and clobbered a walk-off home run on the second pitch of his at-bat to seal the win.

SMSU trailed 12-9 heading into the eighth, but Wheeler led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on a Lampert single and a Davis walk, and scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to two runs.

Trailing by a pair in the bottom of the ninth, Levi Lampert hit a two-run single to score Woitalla and Wheeler and tie up the game at 12 runs apiece.

Dylan Webb pitched two scoreless innings of relief to close the game, improving to 2-0 on the year by limiting the Huskies to a pair of hits with a pair of strikeouts. Ryan Dalager and Max Hudlow each also pitched relief innings for SMSU, with Dalager giving up one earned run on three hits over two innings and Hudlow giving up one earned run on four hits over three innings.

Berreth’s walk-off was his second home run of the day. Trailing by seven runs in the bottom of the fourth, Berreth followed up a Hammrich RBi single with a tthree-run homere to cut the gap to three runs. Wheeler also hit a two-run homer in the frame to cut the gap to 10-9.

Berreth recorded a total of five RBIs on three hits in the game. Behn and Cortez each also logged three hits.

Ryan Bell got the start for SMSU, but the Huskies’ hot bats teed off early to the tune of six earned runs on six hits with Bell getting just one out. Tad Tjaden also give up four earned runs over 2 2/3 innings after taking over for Bell.

Hammrich drove in a run with an RBI double and Davis added another two on a single in the first inning, but SMSU still trailed 10-3 before its bats got into gear in the bottom of the fourth.

Eamonn Mulhern gave up nine earned runs over 2 â…” innings in his start for the Husskies, followed by another five innings of one-run ball from Brayden Simones. Seth Luther and Connor Doolittle each gave up another pair of runs, coming over 1 â…” innings for Luther and 1/3 innings for Doolittle with the loss.