The University of Minnesota Duluth saw its 18-game winning streak snapped and suffered a pair of setbacks in hearbtreaking fashion as No. 3 St. Cloud State University swept the No. 16 Bulldogs in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference twi-night doubleheader, taking game one 3-2 and the nightcap 5-4 with a walk-off home run at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud on Wednesday evening.

Senior left-handed pitcher Bo Hellquist tossed a complete game effort for no. 16 UMD (33-11, 26-6 NSIC) in the opener, allowing just three hits on the afternoon. Unfortunately for Hellquist (6-2), one of those three was a three-run home run by junior catcher Zach Metzger in the bottom of the second inning that proved the game winner. The southpaw finished with a pair of strikeouts in his 6.0 innings of work, allowing five walks but forcing nine ground balls on the afternoon to limit the damage.

For the Bulldogs, junior catcher Marco Lucarelli, drove in both runs on a pair of RBI singles in the second and fourth inning. UMD threatened with at least a baserunner in 5-of-7 innings but could not knock in the game-tying run to avoid the team's first defeat in 18 games. Senior Kyle Comer also had a pair of singles on his afternoon and scored a run as the Bulldogs out-hit no. 3 St. Cloud State 10-to-3 in the opener. Despite that, senior first baseman Alex Wojciechowski saw a streak of 37 consecutive games reaching base end with an 0-for-3 game. He was the only starter not to reach base for the Bulldogs in game one.

The soft-tossing right-hander Reese Gregory (4-0) worked in and out of trouble for the Huskies (36-6, 21-6 NSIC), racking up six strikeouts to offset ten hits in his 5.1 innings of work. From there, junior lefty Kevin Bolder and senior closer Logan Spitzack shut down the Bulldogs over the final 1.2 innings. Spitzack collected his fifth save of the season with a pair of strikeouts in a hitless seventh inning.

St. Cloud State 5, UMD 4
No. 16 UMD let St. Cloud State hang around in game two, and the Huskies made them pay as freshman shortstop Judd Davis connected with a go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete the series sweep.

Sophomore right-hander Nick Dorfman took the mound for the Bulldogs in game two, and he looked every bit the pitcher that went 4-0 en route to being named the team's Freshman of the Year in 2015. He allowed just three hits and a walk in 5.0 shutout innings, striking out five Huskies before exiting with the lead thanks to a three-run fifth inning by UMD's offense. Head coach Bob Rients passed the ball off to junior lefty Kevin Stocke, who tossed a perfect sixth inning in just his second relief appearance of the season.

Junior outfielder Grant Farley singled leading off the inning, and Comer doubled him home to break the stalemate. Senior second baseman Jimmy Heck and freshman designated hitter Tyler Wojciechowski tacked on back-to-back RBI singles to give UMD a 3-0 lead through five. Like Gregory in the game before him, sophomore left-hander Sheldon Miks worked around the Bulldog offense, allowing just the two earned runs on 10 hits while striking out six in 6.1 innings of work. After A. Wojciechowski ripped his third single of the day in the seventh, Miks gave way to Spitzack, making his second appearance of the day. He got out of the inning without allowing any further damage.

UMD turned to its closer as well in the bottom of the seventh as senior Wes Mleziva took the hill. He worked around an error leading off the inning to get his offense back to the plate in short order. T. Wojciechowski led off the inning with a single against Spitzack, gettting around the bases to give the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead thanks to an error by the St. Cloud defense and back-to-back hit batters, including one with the bases loaded. Mleziva faced more adversity in his second inning of work as well as he faced the top of the Huskies order in the bottom of the eighth. After a lead-off single by center fielder Brandon Arnold, Gregory, getting a start at designated hitter in game two, launched his 16th home run of the season to pull the Huskies within two. The Bulldogs' mustachioed right-hander responded with a weak groundball and a strikeout to get out of the rest of the inning unscathed.

After an error and a walk that put two runners on against Mleziva (2-1) in the bottom of the ninth, Davis connected with a big fly, his third of the year, to get the win for Spitzack (4-0), who finished with four strikeouts and just one hit in 2.2 innings of work. Mleziva suffered his first defeat of the year, allowing three hits and four earned runs in 2.1 innings of work. Once again, UMD out-hit St. Cloud by a wide margin (11-to-6), but a pair of Bulldog errors and the two homers would cost them mightily.

Despite the defeats, the Bulldogs remain in first place of the NSIC standings thanks to win-loss percentage. UMD, at 26-6, leads Augustana (S.D.) University (currently at 23-6 with its second game of the day still in progress) as well as St. Cloud, but the Bulldogs will need to take care of business this weekend to finish the season there as well.

ON DECK
UMD will return to Bulldog Park later this week to host the University of Mary in a four-game series to conclude the NSIC season on Friday and Saturday. 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. First pitch between the Bulldogs and Beavers is set for 1:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.