Erin Cochran/Winonan

The Winona State men’s baseball team is now 8-8 overall after losing two games to the Concorida-St. Paul Golden Bears on March 16 and sweeping Minot State March 28 in Sioux Falls, SD.

The Warriors fell to the Golden Bears in the March 16 doubleheader at the Metrodome in game one, and 3-1 in the nightcap.

Tyler Wehring, Derek Wojcik and Ben Sebesta accounted for the Warriors’ sole three hits. Wojcik recorded a double, Sebesta had a single in the seventh, and Nehrin drew a walk in the same inning.

The Golden Bears were able to score in the first, third, fourth and sixth inning to solidify their 4-1 victory.

Jay Voter threw the first four innings and was able to strike out four and allowed one earned run.  Will Lundquist threw three relief innings, striking out four batters and allowing two earned runs.

In game two, Seth McMullen and Sebesta singled to leadoff the sixth, cutting into the Golden Bears lead. A sacrifice fly by Jordan Plamann allowed McMullen to score by advancing on a sacrifice bunt.

Chase Blazier pitched the complete game only giving up four hits earned two runs and struck out two.

“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” said Blazier.  “As a team, and me personally, were just trying to take things week by week and not look too far ahead.  We play in a really talented conference and if you don’t give it all you got every game you’re going to lose some games that you should be entirely capable of winning. “

The games against Minot State allowed the Warriors to get their groove back, as they swept the double header winning game one 8-2 and game two 8-6.

McMullen led on offense; he went 5-of-8 from the plate with three RBI. Ben Weeks had four hits in game two.

In game one, the Warriors started off hot, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning. McMullen started off with a single, Brett Young scored on an RBI groundout, Nehring scored on another groundout while Cody Strang finished off the rally. He scored of an error.

In the second inning, McMullen had his second RBI base hit of the game and brought the Warrior advantage up to 5-0. He added another hit in the top of the fifth and the Warriors still held strong. Young brought the advantage to 7-0, scoring off an error.

McMullen’s third RBI single came in the sixth while Wojcik scored on a center field base hit.

Wasilik pitched the complete game. He gave up just a pair of runs in the seventh but was able to strike out four to earn his first pitching victory of the season.

Game two was no different as the Warriors started off strong by scoring three runs in the first inning. Strang started it off with an RBI single and Weeks brought in two more with a base hit of his own.

The Beavers rallied and scored four in the top of the fourth. They were able to mount a 4-3 advantage, but in the bottom of the frame, the Warriors scored from a Ryan Nyhagen hit to come ahead by 1, 5-4.

The back-and-forth continued as the Beavers scored two in the fifth to take back the lead, but Winona State tied it up on a RBI single by Weeks.

Sebesta and Sill each had base hits and added insurance runs thanks to a sacrifice fly by Young.

Scott Freiburger threw two innings in relief while Lucas Warren pitched perfect ninth inning to collect a save.

The Warriors will return to action April 3 when they host Southwest Minnesota State with the first pitch scheduled for 1:30.

“We were able to find out things that we need to work on to get better in the games previous,” said head coach, Kyle Poock. “With the improvements we’ll make at practice we should have another good rest of the season.  The only advantage to playing at home is that we will get to bat last if needed. Hopefully we’re done with the snow.”

“All the guys really appreciate our families and fans for making the long treks up to the Dome and down to Florida to come see us play,” Blazier said.  “So we’re really excited to start having some home games and would love to have everyone come down and watch us play!”

For more information about Winona State baseball visit www.winonastatewarriors.com.

Contact Erin at [email protected].