The University of Minnesota Duluth flexed some serious muscle and belted eight homers while cruising to a pair of non-conference victories over Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rival Southwest Minnesota State University Tuesday at the West St. Paul Regional Athletic Center. UMD followed up a 5-0 win by throttling the Mustangs 11-1 to move to 8-3 overall.

In the opener, sophomore pitcher Sam Hartmann put on a dominating performance, tossing a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts for her second shutout of the season. Hartmann, who is 5-0 on the year, lost her bid for a no hitter in the top of the seventh inning when SMSU's Jazmyne Neely beat out an infield single. The Bulldogs racked up 10 hits in the win with sophomore outfielder Heather Woyak, junior third baseman Sami Schnyder, freshman shortstop Becky Smith and freshman outfielder Hannah Schmoll each collecting a pair. Smith (who also had a double -- her team-leading sixth of the year), Schmoll and senior first baseman Jordan Rice all homered for UMD.

After loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first inning, the Mustangs (3-3 overall) eventually took a 1-0 lead in the rematch, but junior Cayli Sadler shut them down the rest of way.  The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native, scattered seven hits over seven inning and fanned four while getting plenty of offensive support from her teammates. That included Rice, who went 3-for-4 with one home run as well Wright, Schmoll, Sadler, and junior Abbey Nelson, each of whom had two hits. Wright, Sadler and Nelson also had one home run for UMD, which scored four times in the fourth and more times in the seventh. The Bulldogs' home run total in 2015 now stands at 16.

UMD, which has won five of its last six games (all at the West St. Paul Regional Athletic Center West St. Paul), return to that dome facility on next Wednesday (March 4) for another NSIC non-conference doubleheader against Concordia University-St. Paul.