After dropping a pair of home games on Sunday, the Winona State University baseball team came back to their field to claim two wins on Monday.

Winona State struggled defensively Sunday afternoon in its 13-7 loss during game one of its 2-day doubleheader against the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Allowing six home runs as a team, including three to Bulldogs second baseman Jimmy Heck, Winona State’s pitchers could not get things to go their way.

“We weren’t locating pitches all day,” sophomore Mitchell Stahlsberg said, “Its not fun when that happens.”

The Warriors attempted to make a comeback in the late innings but the nine-run Duluth lead after the fourth was too much for Winona State to overcome.

Sophomore Joe Kubera had two hits including a RBI triple in the fifth inning.

Sophomore Taylor Field had the Warriors’ only home run.

The second game ended 14-8.

Unlike the home run outbreak in the first game, the Bulldogs kept the ball in the park, piling up 16 hits, six of which were doubles.

Jesus Cazares attempted to start a comeback with a ninth-inning home run, his second of the season, but the Warriors scored one more run before the end of the game.

The Warrior offense turned around the next day, defeating the Bulldogs 14-3 Monday afternoon to pick up their first conference win.

Winona State head coach Kyle Poock said the win was a major relief.

“We finally got the monkey off our back,” Poock said. “We felt like we should have won a couple games last weekend, a couple bad bounces really brought down the confidence, but that is back up now.”

Senior Jay Voter picked up his first win of the season, throwing a complete game and only allowing three hits.

The Warriors turned on the bats to compliment the pitching.

Kubera said the effort was there from both sides of the field from the Warriors.

“It was a good feeling to finally get a full game put together,” Kubera said, “I know we have that in us its just that matter of doing it.”

Senior Mitch Voter had four RBIs counting his two-run homerun in the second inning.

The Warriors scored nine of their 14 runs in the first two innings to highlight the second-day opener.

In the nightcap, the Warriors won by almost double-digit runs, ultimately winning 13-4.

They scored eight runs in the eighth inning, including a grand slam by Voter.

Kubera was credited with the win as he struck out two of the three batters he faced. It was Kubera’s first appearance on the mound since 2014.

“The first time on the mound in two years went really well,” Kubera said. “I got the job done and that’s what we needed.”

Winona State (2-5 in the conference) will head to Marshall, Minn. Wednesday to play against Southwest Minnesota State University before facing Bemidji State University over the weekend.