Going into Friday's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader with Winona State University, the University of Minnesota Duluth had averaged just over nine hits and five runs per game this spring.  The Warrior pitching staff managed to cut those figures in half and came away with a pair of wins -- 6-2 and 11-3 (in six innings) -- over UMD at Alumni Field in Winona, Minn.

The Bulldogs, who fell to 20-13 overall and 4-6 in the NSIC,  generated just three hits in the opener, including a leadoff homer by freshman shortstop Becky Smith in the top of the fourth innning. Smith's blast tied the game at 1-1, but Winona State (26-7; 8-0) erupted for three runs (doing so with only one hit and taking advantage of two walks and a wild pitch) in the bottom half of that inning and never looked back. Bulldog junior Cayli Sadler (10-8) threw her 12th complete game of 2015, allowing seven hits while striking out five and walking four. Five of the seven Warrior hits went for extra bases (three doubles and two home runs). Senior first baseman Jordan Rice and sophomore left fielder Heather Woyak had the other two UMD hits.

In the rematch, UMD got off to an inspiring start by scoring three times in the top of the first inning on Smith's team-leading ninth home run of the season. Hanna Lythberg shutdown UMD the rest of the way while her teammates picked up one run in the first, four in the second, two in the fifth and four in the sixth to end it. Rookie center fielder Hannah Schmoll had two of UMD's six hits to boost her 2015 batting average to .442 -- tops among all Bulldogs. Sophomore Sam Hartmann (10-5) took the loss after being touched up for 11 hits and nine earned runs.

The Bulldogs will take on Upper Iowa University Saturday afternoon in another pair of NSIC road assignments.