The battle of the Bulldogs at the NCAA II Central Region Tournament in St. Cloud went to Southwestern Oklahoma State University as the representatives of the Great American Conference eliminated the University of Minnesota Duluth by a 6-3 score at Faber Field on Friday afternoon.

Southwestern Oklahoma State (34-16) struck for four first inning runs against senior left-hander Spencer Diedrich with senior right-fielder Korbin Polston breaking open the scoring with a two-run double. Diedrich walked two and hit a batter in the first, and a two-out, two-run single by Greg Bruno made him pay for it later in the inning. He'd settle down over the next two, as the bottom of the order came through for UMD (39-16) in the top of the second. After senior third baseman Kyle Comer walked to lead off the inning, a one-out double by freshman designated hitter Tyler Wojciechowski put runners on second and third before junior catcher Marco Lucarelli brought in the Bulldogs' first run of the weekend on a sacrifice fly to centerfield. Junior outfielder Matt Vogt got into one, ripping a double to the wall in left filed to cut the SWOSU lead down to 4-2.

After a quiet third inning for both teams, junior shortstop Brian Pierce walked with two outs in the fourth. After stealing second, he came around to score on a looping liner off the bat off Brett Milazzo just over the leaping shortstop's glove. Southwestern Oklahoma State chased Diedrich in the bottom of the fourth as the Bulldogs loaded the bases without the benfit of a hit. Coach Rients turned to right-handed pitcher Alex Ferguson with two outs in the inning. SWOSU clean-up man, senior left fielder Jacob Spring hit a long fly ball to right field to end the inning. Senior first baseman Alex Wojciechowski got into a pitch leading off the fifth inning but it died on the warning track. Back-to-back walks to Comer and senior second baseman Jimmy Heck turned out to be the end of the day for Bulldogs starter Gunnar Cook. Cook finished his day with 4.1 innings, allowing five hits and five walks on the afternoon but would not figure into the final decision as he didn't eclipse five innings. Ben Schweinfurth relieved Cook, getting T. Wojciechowski to roll into a double play to end the threat.

Ferguson pitched a pair of clean fifth and sixth inning for UMD, but the "home" Bulldogs finally broke through for another run in the seventh as junior third baseman Joshua Santos launched a lead-off home run to left, extending the Southwestern Oklahoma State lead out to 5-3. After a single by Polston, the Bulldogs turned to left-hander Kevin Stocke on the mound, who forced a pair of ground balls for a self-started fielder's choice out at second and a double play to get out of the inning without any further damage. After SWOSU loaded the bases on two walks and a single with one out in the ninth, UMD turned once against to junior right-hander Colton Sinning. He'd get two outs on one play, but not before Southwestern Oklahoma State extended its lead to 6-3. Schweinfurth (4-0) set down 11 in a row before Vogt singled with one out in the ninth. Milazzo followed that up with his second single of the afternoon, but he'd strike out Farley to end the game. He struck out three Bulldogs in 4.2 innings of work.

UMD finished an historic season with, among other program records, the most victories in school history. Diedrich (5-1) suffered just his first defeat of the season, finishing with five hits and four walks in his 3.2 innings, striking out a pair. Vogt led the Bulldogs with a 2-for-3 game, including an RBI double. Milazzo finished 2-5 with a run-scoring hit. Comer drew three walks on his afternoon.