Huskies Finish Sweep of Minot State with Comeback Victory

Saturday, May 7

Minot, N.D.

12:00 p.m. CT

St. Cloud State

36-11, 28-5

Minot State

26-21, 20-12

St. Cloud State

Minot State

5/7/2022 11:19:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Huskies score fourth in the ninth to beat Minot, earn 2-seed in NSIC Tournament

MINOT, N.D. – Unlike most of St. Cloud State Baseball's wins over the last six weeks, the Huskies (36-11, 28-5 NSIC) had to comeback to beat Minot State (27-20, 21-11 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon in Minot, N.D. St. Cloud State trailed 6-4 heading into the eighth inning before scoring five runs in the final two innings to seal the victory. Senior Paul Steffensen (Kenai, Ala.) was a catalyst in the comeback, hitting his fifth home run of the season in the eighth inning before knocking in another on a fielder's choice in the ninth.

In a bullpen game, redshirt junior Sam Riola (Blaine, Minn.) came on in relief in the fifth inning and went the distance, going 3.2 innings while allowing three runs on five hits while recording four strikeouts. After earning the save in the second game of yesterday, Riola earned the win in the game to improve to 2-0 on the season.

KEY MOMENT

Steffensen's homer in the eighth made the score 6-5 heading into the ninth inning. Redshirt junior Drew Bulson (St. Cloud, Minn.) came to the plate with the bases loaded and drew a walk, driving in redshirt sophomore John Nett (Appleton, Wis.) to tie the game at six. Steffensen drew in the second run of the inning with a fielder's choice, scoring redshirt sophomore Tate Wallat (Federal Way, Wash.). Senior Max Gamm would add insurance runs later in the inning, scoring Steffensen and Riola on a single up the middle to make the score 9-6.

Riola would let two runs score in the bottom of the ninth, but closed the door to seal the 9-8 win for the Huskies.

GAME NOTES

Steffensen matched season-highs with hits (three) and RBI (three) while adding his fifth home run of the season. He increased his RBI total to 43 on the season, second only to Riola's team-leading 56.
Riola went 3.2 innings with four strikeouts to improve to 2-0 on the season. At the dish, Riola went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
The Huskies have won 21 of its last 22 games and finish conference play with a record of 28-5, its best NSIC mark since going 31-3 in 2015.

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State heads to Sioux Falls for the NSIC Tournament, where the Huskies will be the 2-seed and will open with 7-seed Sioux Falls on Wednesday at Ronken Field at 6:00 p.m. CT. A live stream of the game will be available on the NSIC Network, with radio coverage on KVSC.

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