St. Cloud State Baseball Sweeps Wayne State in Saturday Doubleheader

Saturday, March 26

Wayne, Neb.

12:00 p.m. CT

St. Cloud State

11-9, 3-3

Wayne State

11-8, 5-1

St. Cloud State

Wayne State (Neb.)

Photo by: Thomas Breach

St. Cloud State Baseball Sweeps Wayne State in Saturday Doubleheader

3/26/2022 7:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Ahern and Habeck throw complete games to lead the Huskies to the sweep

WAYNE, NEB - St. Cloud State Baseball (12-9, 4-3 NSIC) opened their weekend series versus Wayne State (11-9, 5-2 NSIC) with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon in Wayne, Neb. The Huskies were able to jump out to early leads in both games and force the Wildcats to play from behind. The early lead combined with stellar starting pitching was all St. Cloud needed to pick up their first sweep in a doubleheader this season.

Game One: Huskies 4, Wildcats 1

Scoring in the first inning has become a theme for St. Cloud State this season. After loading the bases true freshman Ethan Navratil (1-for-3, R, 2B, RBI) doubled down the left field line, and redshirt sophomore Drew Bulson (1-for-3, 3B, RBI) tripled down the right field line to cap off a three-run inning.

Redshirt junior Riley Ahern (CG, 5 H, R, BB, 7 K's) was impressive in his third win this season. At one point he retired 10-straight Wildcat hitters and only needed 89 pitches in his first complete game of the season.

In the fourth, redshirt sophomore John Nett (2-for-4, R, RBI) singled to left field with two outs to give SCSU a 4-0 lead. Wayne State would get their lone run of the game in the bottom of the inning, but it wouldn't be enough. St. Cloud State takes game one by a final score of 4-1.

"It's freezing cold out here, and I just wanted to get out there and throw strikes, let my fielders take over and I think I did that well. All of our fielders showed up today and we got in and out quickly so we could put some coats on," said Ahern following his complete game performance.

Game Two: Huskies 11, Vikings 0

In the back half of the doubleheader, the Huskies once again scored in the top of the first inning. Nett (4-for-5, 3 R, 2B, RBI) singled to start, redshirt sophomore Tate Wallat (3-for-4, 2 R, BB, 3 RBI) singled to score him, then redshirt junior Sam Riola (2-for-4, R, 3 RBI) followed with an RBI single and SCSU led 2-0.

The second inning was more of the same when the Huskies plated three more runs. Senior Max Gamm (0-for-2, RBI) produced an RBI groundout, while Nett and Wallat both hit RBI singles. With a 5-0 lead, the offense didn't slow down sophomore Tyler Schiller (1-for-3, 2 R, 2-Run HR) blasted his second home run in the last three games and Riola tripled to bring two more runs home and SCSU was up big 11-0.

Don't let all the offense distract you from the amazing performance by redshirt sophomore Jack Habeck (CG, H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K's) in first start this season. On 91 pitches, he pitched the third straight complete game by a Husky starter in his second win of the season. Huskies run rule the Wildcats in seven innings 11-0.

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State will play Wayne State in the series finale Sunday as they look for their first conference sweep of the season. First pitch is set for noon CT, with the game being broadcast on the NSIC Network and Live Stats provided by Wayne State. You can also listen to the game on the KVSC Sports Stream.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Baseball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.