The University of Minnesota Duluth came out swinging Monday and came home with a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victories.

The Bulldogs pounded out 32 hits and 27 runs en route to sweeping Concordia University-St. Paul, 6-2 and 21-10 in nine innings, at Carlander Field in St. Paul. UMD, which is 11-2 in its last 13 outings, improved to 15-8 overall and 4-2 in NSIC play.

In the opener, UMD broke a scoreless deadlock by scoring four times in the top of the third with second baseman Natalie Wright bringing in half of those runs on a single up the middle. UMD added single runs in the fifth and sixth inning and junior pitcher Sam Hartmann came within two outs of tossing a shutout before she gave up a two-run homer to the Golden Bears' Lizzy Swenson. Hartmann (6-4) scattered six hits and struck out five in the complete game triumph. Sophomore center fielder Hannah Schmoll went 2-for-4 while senior right fielder Ashley Schilling was 2-for-3 to pace the Bulldogs offensively.

The Bulldogs and Golden Bears combined for 33 hits and sent 106 batters to the plate in the rematch. UMD trailed just once the entire game, 8-4 at the end of five innings, before exploding for six runs in the top of the sixth. Concordia-St. Paul (7-19 overall; 1-5 NSIC) tied it in the bottom half of that inning and, after both clubs failed to score in the next two innings, the Bulldogs put up an 11 spot in the ninth. It was the most runs in one inning by a Bulldog club since they also plated 11 on March 5, 2006 in a 25-1 throttling of Marian College in Marquette, Mich. UMD generated nine hits in the ninth, and senior Ashley Lewis accomplished what is believed to be a Bulldog program first by homering twice in that inning. Sophomore shortstop Becky Smith also also hit a fence-clearing shot in the ninth for her team-leading fifth home run of the season. Rookie Valerie Hohol came on in relief of starting pitcher Cayli Salder in the bottom of the fifth and picked up the win, her first decision as a collegian. She allowed just two hits (one of which was a two-run, game-tying homer) and two runs the rest of the way and helped her cause at the plate by swatting a two-run homer in the sixth inning. Lewis finished with five hits and eight RBI in six at bats for the Bulldogs, who also got four hits from Wright and three each from both Schilling and Smith.
 
UMD will start a six-game homestand beginning tomorrow (March 29) with a twinbill against Minnesota State University-Moorhead. The first pitch is slated for 12:30 p.m. on the artificial turf of James St. Malosky Stadium.

HIGHLIGHTS - GAME ONE

HIGHLIGHTS - GAME TWO