After weather delays and game disruptions produced an extra-long four-game Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference series for the University of Minnesota Duluth on Monday and Tuesday in Mankato, the Bulldogs will return to the diamond this weekend to take on Winona State University riding the momentum of a 3-1 series victory to open the league season.
UPDATE 4/1/16 10:35am: Due to inclement weather in Winona for Saturday afternoon, the weekend's games have been pushed back a day to Sunday and Monday afternoon with the same start times: 1:30 p.m. for the first doubleheader and 12:00 p.m. on getaway day.UMD (10-6, 3-1 NSIC) swept a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon following the completion of the team's Monday evening game at Minnesota State University (R.V.) that had been halted due to darkness -- 3-2 extra-inning victory for the Mavericks. The Bulldogs will head to Winona, Minnesota this Saturday and Sunday for another four-game NSIC set.
SCOUTING THE WARRIORS | 3-13, 0-3 NSIC
Winona State played three of its four games at the University of Minnesota-Crookston this weekend, falling in three straight to start the conference campaign ... WSU played three similar opponents to UMD in Florida during the non-conference season, going 1-2 against Walsh (Ohio) University, Ohio Dominican University, and Saint Joseph's (Ind.) College (the Bulldogs were 3-1 against the same foes) ... sophomore outfielder Joe Kubera leads the Warriors reaching base at a .414 clip. He's scored 10 runs on the year while hitting .369 ... junior infielder Jesus Cazares is slugging .462 while driving in a team-leading 13 runs and crossing the plate nine times ... senior right-hander Jay Voter leads the starting staff with a 3.71 ERA but an 0-2 record and 1.54 WHIP on the year ... senior righty Mitch Voter had appeared in six games out of the bullpen, striking out nine in 7.0 innings to the tune of a 1.29 ERA ... head coach Kyle Poock has been the manager of the Warriors since the 2003 season ... Winona State own a 75-43 all-time record against UMD but the Bulldogs took 3-of-4 in the series last year in Duluth on Apr. 11-12.
CIRCLING THE BASESSenior first baseman
Alex Wojciechowski led the Bulldog offensive attack, hitting .556 (10-of-18) with three home runs, three doubles, nine runs batted in and four runs scored ... junior shortstop
Brian Pierce hit .500 (5-of-10) in three starts, scoring three runs ... freshman third baseman
Tyler Wojciechowski came down to earth a bit from his nation-leading hitting but still hit .294 (5-of-17) with his second collegiate home run and three RBI ... the UMD bullpen produced nearly spotless results with seven pitchers combining for 8.1 innings of 0.00 ERA ball. Sophomore lefty
Tommy Hanson (2.1) and right-hander
Nick Dorfman (2.0) each produced multiple innings ... UMD got 5.2 innings out of each of its four starters in the series, with senior lefty
Bo Hellquist striking out 10 in his win Monday afternoon while senior righty
Austin Vaske allowed just three hits and four walks in a no-decision.
| Poll | UMD | WSU |
| NCBWA National Top 25 (Mar. 29) | -- | -- |
| CBN National Top 30 (Mar. 28) | -- | -- |
| NCBWA Regional Top 10 (Mar. 29) | -- | -- |
WEATHER EYESunday: Partly Cloudy ... High 62, Low 32 ... Winds SSW 17 mph ... Precipitation: 120%
Monday: Cloudy ... High 41, Low 31 ... Winds N 10 mph ... Precipitation: 0%
HOW TO FOLLOWLive Stats |
Live Video (all games)
WHAT'S NEXT?All NSIC doubleheaders feature one seven-inning game followed by a nine-inning game. If the first game goes to extra innings, then the second reverts to a seven-inning game as well. UMD and Winona State will get the action started on Saturday afternoon at Loughrey Field in Winona. Opening pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.
