Danny Moriarty / Winonan

The Winona State University baseball team ended the weekend away with one win and three losses against the Minot State University Beavers. The two teams faced Saturday and Sunday in two doubleheaders.

As Winona State was coming off of a doubleheader loss to Minnesota State University, Mankato on Thursday (12-1, 11-9), Minot State swept the two matchups on Saturday. Junior Warrior Mitchell Stalsberg managed to strike out 13 batters in six innings. The Beavers came back late in the game and had a walk off win against the Warriors.

The Warriors were first on the board after junior Kipp Youngquist scored off a single by junior Mitchell Heid. That would be the only runner to cross as a strikeout ended the inning.

Senior Michael Hommes tripled to third in the second, yet the Beavers’ pitcher was able to keep the runner at third as he got a runner out on a fly out and set the next batter down on strikes to end the inning.

First-year Treyton Larson and junior Joe Kubera both reached base, but Minot State’s pitcher was able to force a ground ball and a pop fly to end the inning.

Stalsberg was able to keep the Beavers scoreless all game and went into the bottom of the seventh looking for a complete game shutout. Stalsberg led the inning with a walk and a hit batter. Then an outfielder for the Beavers singled to right, scoring the tying Beaver run. Stalsberg got two outs before senior Derek Masberg came into the game with bases loaded to send the game into extra innings. Masberg was able to get a fly ball out to end the inning.

The Warriors led off extra innings with a double from Heid and a single from senior Nathan Krause to put them ahead 2-1. Minot state would not go down as a Beaver homered off of Masberg to tie the game again, and then Minot State ended the game in a walk off victory.

When asked about the decision to take out Stalsberg, head coach Kyle Poock said, “He was getting high up on the pitch count. We have to make sure [Stalsberg] stays healthy, so putting in Masberg was the right move – just didn’t go our way in the end.”

In the second Saturday game against the Beavers, senior Hayden Krimmer was on the mound for the. They struck first when first-year Treyton Larson tripled to left center, scoring Nick Nalewanski in the second inning. Larson crossed the plate after a throwing error by the Beavers that put the Warriors 2-0 after the second inning.

The Beavers would answer with a three-run homerun after Krimmer hit a batter and a baserunner reached off a throwing error, putting the Beavers ahead 3-2.

As the Beavers  extended their lead 4-2 and eventually 5-2 in the fifth inning, The Warriors stranded a runner in the sixth inning, as Kubera was left on third base after he was hit by a pitch.

In the seventh inning, the Warriors achieved a run across and a few base runners before the Beavers’ pitcher had a strikeout to end the game.

Both teams met again Sunday in another doubleheader in Winona.

Senior Daniel Karlin-Kamin made the start for the Warriors in game one. He had a five-hit shutout for the day as the Warriors blew out the Beavers 9-0.

In the second inning, Hommes hit his first home run of the season, scoring Chad Herbst and putting the Warriors ahead 3-0.

Karlin-Kamin kept the Beavers scoreless, despite a few Beaver threats. He would end the day with four strikeouts.

Poock said, “It was nice to have some run support for Daniel this game. He has pitched so many great games, but we have often left him short of runs, so it was great to see our guys give him that much support that game.”

The Warriors tacked on six more runs this game, including four runs on five hits in the top of the fifth, that gave the Warriors the 9-0 victory.

Game two of the day went in the other direction, as the Beavers shut out the Warriors by a score of 6-0.

“We just need to execute better in certain situations.” Poock said. “We have been showing flashes. We have a lot of young players that are starting to show improvement since making the transition from high school to college.”

After a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader away at Wayne State College this week, the Warriors will head to South Dakota to take on the University of Sioux Falls Cougars who are 7-7 in conference play for the season.

By Danny Moriarty