The University of Minnesota Duluth baseball team played their first doubleheader of the RussMatt Central Florida Invite tonight, falling in both games to the Wayne State University Warriors in Davenport, Florida. 

Game One: UMD (5) - WSU (7)

UMD struck first to start off the day, seeing Troy Lynch, Garrett Stauffacher, and Michael Gabbard reach to load the bases in the second inning. A balk and a subsequent sacrifice fly from Joey Flom would drive in the first two runs of the game, pushing the Bulldogs ahead 2-0. 

The Warriors responded in the bottom of the inning, tallying two RBI hits and scoring on a wild pitch to take over the lead 3-2.

A single from Sam Kliber in the top of the third set up Lynch to rocket an RBI triple to tie things up again at 3-3. A wild throwing error from from the Warriors second baseman would see Lynch come fully around and add another run on the board for the Bullodgs.

The runs continued in the fourth for UMD with an RBI sacrifice fly from Gabe Richardson, moving the Bulldogs ahead 5-3.

A four run rally for the Warriors in the bottom of the sixth, aided by a two run triple from Bennett Hitzelberger, would prove to be all the momentum WSU needed as their 7-5 lead would hold out until the end of the game.

Game Two: UMD (2) - WSU (10)

The Bulldogs got on the board first in game two of the afternoon, with Lynch drawing a leadoff walk to open the bottom of the second. After stealing second and advancing to third on a flyout from Flom, a dropped third strike situation would allow Hanson to reach and Lynch to come across home to put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0.

The Warriors took their chance to tie up the game in the next half inning, driving a run in on a RBI single from Tony Hatzgeorgiou in the top of the third.

WSU continued to tack on the runs over the final three innings of the game, tallying nine runs and building a 10-1 lead with the help of a Reagan Paulina two run home run in the fifth.

In the bottom of the seventh, Hayden Anthony would go yard over the left field wall for a solo home run. Though it would be too little too late, as the Bulldogs dropped the final game of the day 10-2.

Looking Ahead

Bulldog baseball (7-6, 6-2 NSIC) returns for another doubleheader tomorrow in Auburndale, closing out a four game stretch with the Warriors. First pitch against the Warriors is currently set for 1:30 PM (CST).