The University of Minnesota Duluth exploded for a seven-run seventh inning to roll over Wayne State (Mich.) University 14-5 in game two of a doubleheader, splitting with the Wildcats on the Bulldogs' final day at RussMatt Central Florida Classic at Chain of Lakes Park Stadium in Winter Haven, Florida on Friday evening.
UMD (7-5) finished its annual Florida road trip with a 6-2 record including a 2-1 mark in three key regional match-ups including the split with Wayne State (2-6) in Friday's doubleheader. The Wildcats touched up Bulldog senior southpaw
Bo Hellquist (1-1) for five earned runs in 5.1 innings of work with Wayne State knocking off UMD 12-4 in the first game.
The Bulldogs struck for a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning of the nightcap, but the Warriors fought back and drew even in the bottom of the inning. Senior third baseman
Kyle Comer singled home a pair of runs in the third inning and forced a fielding error by the Wayne State left fielder, and eventually he came around to score on an RBI groundout by senior second baseman
Jimmy Heck, who led the way with four runs batted in on the night. The first five batters in the UMD line-up each had multiple hits on the game, including Heck and Comer along with sophomore outfielder
Brett Milazzo, junior outfielder
Grant Farley, and senior first baseman
Alex Wojciechowski.
A two-run error cut the lead down to 6-4 in the fourth inning, but senior right-hander
Austin Vaske (1-1) completed 5.0 innings, allowing just three earned runs on four hits, picking up his first victory of the season. Senior righty
Wes Mleziva came in for the final two innings, collecting his third save of the season (and the week) while striking out a pair.
UMD struck for seven runs in the seventh, putting solid contact on a pair of Wayne State pitchers. Junior shortstop
Kyle Hoffman got the inning started, singling home a pair of runs on a flyball single to right field, and the line-up turned around before all was said and done and the Bulldogs escaped with a victory.
Wayne State 12, UMD 4Wayne State catcher Justin Kelly drove in four runs including a three-run home run that put the Warriors up 4-0 in the third inning of game one, with UMD answering scoring a pair of runs in each of the next two innings. Milazzo plated a run with a triple in the fourth inning, eventually scoring on a single by A. Wojciechowski. He had three hits to lead the way for the Bulldogs.
After UMD tied it up, errors began to stack up and the Warriors would lead by an 8-4 score when Hellquist left the mound after 5.1 innings. They'd put the game out of hand in the seventh inning, scoring four runs against a pair of Bulldog relievers. Meanwhile, WSU's Nolan Dill locked up his first save of the season tossing the final 2.1 innings of relief and striking out four UMD players in securing the victory for Jared Tobey (1-1).
The Bulldogs will be off this weekend and next before opening Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play at perennial contender Minnesota State University Mankato on Friday, Mar 25 to begin a four-game series. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. in Mankato.
