Alexandria Carter/ Winonan
The Winona State University baseball team traveled to Houston, Texas to compete in the 2015 Houston Winter Invitational at Minute Maid Park on Thursday.
Although the Warriors returned to Winona with four losses, head coach Kyle Poock said overall it was a “great experience for our guys.”
The Warriors faced Tarleton State, University of Central Missouri, St. Mary’s University and Henderson State during their four-day stretch.
“The experience in Texas will be helpful down the road,” Poock said. “We played some pretty good teams who will make runs for the conference titles and NCAA playoffs in their regions.”
On Thursday, the Warriors fell to Tarleton State 15-2 in their season opener.
Both teams were scoreless after two innings as senior Chase Blazier did not give up a run for the Warriors.
In the third inning, Tarleton State took a 3-0 lead over the after a triple by Texan Landon Merka, a hit batter, back-to-back RBI singles and an RBI flyout.
In the fourth inning, senior Travis Evanson had a one-out single followed with a single from Jesus Cazares, putting a pair of runners on base. Jordan Plamann scored the season’s first run with an RBI single, bringing in Evanson to score the first point for the Warriors.
Redshirt freshman Paul Mutch plated Cazares after recording his first collegiate RBI. The Texans led Winona State 3-2 heading into the fifth inning before scoring 12 unanswered runs.
Tarleton State scored seven runs in the fifth inning, leading the Warriors 10-2 before scoring three in the sixth and two more in the seventh finishing the game with a score of 15-2.
Senior Jordan Plamann recorded two of the Warriors’ five hits in the game. Warrior pitchers walked 10 batters and hit three Texans.
Next up Winona State faced No. 22 Central Missouri in a game that resulted in a Warrior loss 2-1.
Sophomore Hayden Krimmer pitched five innings against Central Missouri giving up two runs with one earned.
The Warriors got on the board first as Michael Hommes opened the game with a leadoff walk and advancing to second. Tyler Nehring drove his teammate home with an RBI single to give Winona State the lead 1-0 at the top of the first inning.
In the sixth inning Krimmer hit the first batter, which ended up in a score for Central Missouri after a stolen second and a single.
Jay Voter replaced Krimmer, but a deep fly out led to another score and the lead for the Mules over the Warriors 2-1.
Despite the Winona State’s efforts to pull ahead, the final score remained 2-1.
Against the Mules the Warriors had four hits in the game, two of which came from Nehring in the first and ninth innings.
On Saturday, Winona State fell to St. Mary’s 11-3.
St. Mary’s took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an unearned run on an RBI single. Winona State answered in the top of the second after sophomore Andrew Geislinger scored the first homerun of his collegiate career that also brought Hommes in, giving the Warriors the lead 2-1.
St. Mary’s came back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to reclaim a 3-2 lead and then a 7-2 lead after a grand slam off Will Lundquist.
At the bottom of the sixth another run gave St. Mary’s an 8-2 lead over the Warriors. In the top of the eighth Nehring hit a home run to make the score 8-3. Adding three more runs at the bottom of the inning gave St. Mary’s an 11-3 win over the Winona State Warriors.
The Warriors recorded eight hits, which two of those from Jesus Cazares who had a fourth-inning double and an eighth-inning single.
In their final game, the Warriors fell to Henderson State 5-0 on Sunday.
The Reddies had a leadoff double followed by an RBI single off Lucas Crimmins to give them a 1-0 lead over the Warriors.
Henderson State added four runs in the second inning to extend their lead further, 5-0.
Crimmins gave up just one hit over the next three scoreless innings. Jay Voter, Mitchell Stalsberg, and Mitch Voter pitched four scoreless innings and gave up four hits and walking two in relief.
The Warriors managed six hits in the game, including a pair from leadoff hitter Michael Hommes.
“In baseball, you’re going to have losses, but our goal is to minimize the losses and stay focused on what’s ahead,” Nehring said. “We’re going to compete with anyone that we play against.”
This coming weekend the Warriors are scheduled to travel to Bolivar, Missouri where they will take on two doubleheaders on Saturday against Southwest Baptist and on Sunday against Wisconsin-Parkside.
