Allison Mueller/ Winonan

The Winona State University baseball team concluded their four-game road trip to Bismarck, N.D. with three wins over the University of Mary.

The Warriors started strong and defeated U-Mary the first two games on March 29 with scores of 4-1 and 14-9.

Nathan Krause opened the first game with an RBI single and allowed Joseph Kubera to score the first run in the top of the first inning.

Winona State advanced its lead over U-Mary in the bottom of the fourth inning after Krause scored off of Brett Young’s RBI triple. Young then concluded the inning with another run, giving the Warriors a 3-0 lead.

U-Mary was able to get on the board in the sixth inning, but the Warriors answered with a run from Lucas Crimmins after an RBI single from Ryan Nyhagen.

Scott Freiburger relieved pitcher Chase Blazier in the seventh inning to preserve the Warrior’s lead and win 4-1.

Blazier gave up one earned run in game one and pitched six innings. In addition, he gave up only three hits and struck out five U-Mary players.

In the second game, U-Mary took the lead 2-0 in the third inning.

In the bottom of the fourth inning the Warriors batted 15 times, producing seven hits and 10 runs. Tyler Nehring led off with a triple and scored after Travis Evanson’s single.

Winona State continued to score six more runs without recording an out. In Nehring’s second at-bat of the inning, he scored Michael Hommes, followed by an RBI by Krause to score Kubera.

The Warriors upped their lead with a score from Nehring after a U-Mary fielding error to put Winona State up 10-2 going into the fifth inning.

U-Mary managed to score two runs, but the Warriors followed with three more runs of their own.

Winona State concluded the game with one more run in the sixth inning and crushed U-Mary’s attempt at a comeback. The Warriors defeated U-Mary with a score of 14-9, which is the most runs scored in a single game this season.

In the third game the following day, the Warriors fell to U-Mary in a close 15-13 game.

Evanson started the game with a two-run home run to score Nehring, giving the Warriors a 2-0 lead. U-Mary answered with eight runs in the second inning.

The Warriors were able to score one run in the bottom of the second inning, only to be met with five more runs from U-Mary in the third inning, putting Winona State behind 13-3.

In an attempt at a comeback the Warriors scored at least one run in each of the remaining innings, bringing the game 13-7. This included a second home run from Evanson and a run from Young.

After another run from U-Mary in the sixth inning, the Warriors scored four runs, led by Evanson’s third home run of the game.

U-Mary scored once more in the seventh inning and Winona State followed with two more runs in an attempt to take over, but fell 15-13.

Head coach Kyle Poock said, “Even though we were able to score every inning, we were unable to stop them.”

Evanson said the Warriors were able to stop U-Mary the fourth and final game after having “more confidence and focus” than they had in the previous game.

Winona State scored the first runs of the game in the third inning after a three-run double by Evanson to score Lucas Warren, Nehring and Kubera.

U-Mary met those runs in the fourth inning to tie the game 3-3. The Warriors took back their lead with RBI’s from Warren and Nehring and six runs in the fifth inning.

With Winona State up 11-3, Evanson finished the game with his fourth home run of the day to give the Warriors two more runs in the seventh inning and the win 13-3.

Poock said their loss earlier in the day motivated the Warriors in the final game.

“I think our guys were more focused and little ticked off that we lost after beating them twice,” Poock said. “We went back out there to show we were a better team than what we showed in the game before.”

By scoring three home runs in a single game, Evanson tied a school record set on April 7, 2012, by Nate Van Roekel at Northern State. In addition to a total of four home runs, Evanson racked up 11 RBI’s in the final two games.

These accomplishments earned Evanson the “Player of the Week” by the conference.

Evanson said “it was all offensive” and he is happy to be outside hitting the ball again.

With the weather warming up, the baseball team is able to practice outside and keep working on game situations.

Poock said the Warriors have worked out most of the rough spots with young players and things are coming together.

“We have a more set line up now and our guys are settling into their roles better now,” Poock said.

Winona State split four games between Sunday and Monday against Concordia-St.Paul.

The Warriors shut out their opponent 5-0 the first game. The fourth inning Winona State pulled ahead by scoring four runs and leaving their opponent unable to recover.

Game two resulted in another win for the Warriors 4-1. After Warren scored in the top of the first the score remained 1-0 until Concordia-St. Paul tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. The Warriors answered by scoring three more runs in the top of the seventh inning, giving them the win.

The following day Winona State lost both games of the doublheader with scores of 7-1 and 5-2. The Warriors were unable to score until the final two innings of both games.

Winona State (9-14 overall, 6-5 NSIC) will travel to play Southwest Minnesota State April 9, and Bemidji State April 12 and 13.