In a pair of nail-biting games in St. Cloud, Minn., the University of Minnesota Duluth found a way to come out with two wins on Thursday to remain alive in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament. The Bulldogs used timely hitting and a shut-down bullpen to pick up a 3-2 win over Concordia University-St. Paul before following with a 5-2 extra inning victory over Wayne State College. UMD has now picked up at least two wins in the NSIC Tournament in three consecutive seasons.
UMD 3, CSP 2
Pitching seemed to be the story of the game for both teams, but the Bulldogs were ultimately able to pick up some clutch hitting to down the Golden Bears in the second game of the tournament for each team.
Junior
Tyler Midas notched the game's largest hit when he blasted a two-run home run to right center field in the fifth inning to give UMD a 2-1 lead. Both runs were unearned, as Concordia-St. Paul committed one of two errors in the game earlier in the inning.
Innings after the Golden Bears tied the game at two on a sacrifice fly, the Bulldogs were able to scratch across another unearned run on a ground ball to third base from senior catcher
Marco Lucarelli that was thrown wild, allowing senior infielder
Kyle Hoffman to score the eventual game-winning run.
Six different UMD hitters picked up a hit on the day, including extra-base hits from Midas, junior outfielder
Brett Milazzo, and senior outfielder
Grant Farley.
Sophomore pitcher
Ryan Cunningham tossed an impressive performance on the mound by allowing just one run in 5.1 innings pitched, but senior
Colton Sinning (W, 3-3) may have been the difference in the game as he provided 2.2 hitless innings out of the bullpen. Senior
Kevin Stocke and junior
Colin Baumgard (S, 1) combined to shut out CSP in the ninth inning with Baumgard striking out two of three batters faced.
UMD 3, WSC 2
Runs were once again tough to come by at Dick Putz Field, as the teams combined for just five runs in a 3-2 Bulldog victory.
Freshman infielder
Chase Thomas led off the second inning with a double before being advanced to third base on a ground ball by senior shortstop
Brian Pierce. UMD tacked on its first run with a sacrifice fly to center field by Milazzo, allowing Thomas to score.
Freshman southpaw
Rece Dietrich was phenomenal in 6.1 innings, surrendering only one unearned run while striking out seven and keeping the game in check for the Bulldogs.
Wayne State would tie the score at 1-1 in the seventh inning, but an RBI-single by sophomore third baseman
Ben Danielson put UMD back on top as Milazzo would come around to score from second.
The Wildcats tied the game once again in the ninth inning on an RBI-double by senior catcher Bodie Cooper before the Bulldog bullpen shut down WSC for the remainder of the game.
UMD's heroics came in the tenth inning, beginning with a single by Hoffman, who was later driven in on a double by Danielson to put the Bulldogs up 3-2. A few batters later, Midas would blast a huge two-run home run to center field to vault UMD to a 5-2 advantage, his third of the day and fifth in the previous six games.
Stocke (W, 4-4) shut down the opponent for the second consecutive game out of the bullpen, pitching three innings while allowing just one hit and no runs while closing out the game for the Bulldogs.
UP NEXT
UMD will take the field tomorrow against Augustana (S.D) University at 3:30 p.m. on Faber Field.
