Huskies battle back to defeat Minnesota Duluth 9-7 in opener of NSIC tournament

Wednesday, May 10

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

37-14

University of Minnesota Duluth - NSIC Tournament

23-27

Minnesota Duluth

St. Cloud State

Mat Meyer

Huskies battle back to defeat Minnesota Duluth 9-7 in opener of NSIC tournament

5/10/2017 9:29:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

ST. CLOUD - The St. Cloud State baseball team (37-14, 27-11 NSIC) battled back to win their opening game of the 2017 NSIC Tournament against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (23-27, 18-19 NSIC) by a score of 9-7 on May 10.

The Huskies, who earned the three seed in the tournament, were put in to a comeback position early on as the Bulldogs were able to register a single run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Though down, the Huskies would prove that their hitting was ready to go as they would quickly remove the Bulldog lead, scoring four runs in the following half inning.

Bo Schmitz got the Huskies on the board after ripping a double to left field. His shot was good enough to score Mitch Mallek and Judd Davis to put the Huskies ahead 2-1. The fun would be continued by a Jackson Goplen double down the left field line that would then bring home Schmitz. The Huskies closed out the inning with a Cooper Maas single that would score Goplen and put the Huskies up 4-1 after the first.

The score would remain notched at 4-1 until a Huskies' wild pitch would bring in UMD's Lucarelli to make it 4-2 in the fourth inning. The Huskies would again answer the Bulldogs' challenge as Ethan Ibarra would ground out to third with a sacrifice bunt to bring in Cooper Maas and but the Huskies back up by three at 5-2 after four complete.

The Bulldogs would rally in a big way in the fifth inning however, as three Bulldogs would notch home runs. The first was a two run double by Danielson, followed by solo shots by Farley and Vogt to move the Bulldogs into the lead at 6-5. The Huskies would not remain down for long, as a single up the gut by Meyer would bring in Jordan Joseph to knot the game up at 6-6 after five played.

The two teams would remain tied until the bottom of the seventh when it was the Huskies' bats turn to get hot. The action started with a Schmitz double to left field that would bring in Joseph and break the tie at 7-6 Huskies. Mat Meyer would be the next one to draw blood, sending a single shot up the left side to bring in Mallek. Finally Goplen would send a sacrifice fly out to left field to bring in Schmitz and move the Huskies back up by three runs at 9-6 after seven innings played.

The Bulldogs would attempt a comeback in the ninth inning, but were not successful only getting one batter over home plate to bring the score to its final spot at 9-7 in favor of the Huskies.

The Huskies held the slightest of margin over the Bulldogs in the game, outhitting the six seed 13-12. Each team registered one error in the match. The pitcher of record for the Huskies was David Kroger, who moved his overall record to 2-1. Miles Nablo registered his fifth save of the season for the Huskies in his work in the final inning of play. Fredrickson is dealt the loss for the Bulldogs, earning him his second loss of the season.

The Huskies advance into the second round of the tournament to face Augustana at 4 p.m. at Dick Putz Field on May 11. The Vikings advance after dealing Concordia-St. Paul a painful 11-2 loss in the first round of tournament action on May 10.