DULUTH, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston baseball team fell 7-2 and 16-2 to University of Minnesota Duluth in a pair of NSIC road games at Bulldog Park in Duluth, Minn. The Golden Eagles struggled to hit left-handers Spencer Diedrich and Tommy Hanson and struggled on the mound Wednesday.

Minnesota Crookston falls to 18-13 (11-6 NSIC). Minnesota Duluth puts themselves just one game back of first place in the NSIC with a 23-9 (16-4 NSIC) record. The Golden Eagles are still in a good spot in the NSIC standings as they are tied for fourth with Concordia University, St. Paul. UMC has 12 conference games left on their slate as they look to continue their best season in program history.

The loss for the Golden Eagles for game one went to Aaron Hollcraft (Fr., LHP, Crookston, Minn.), who gave up seven earned runs on seven hits with four walks and a strikeout in four innings. Colt Trebesch (Sr., RHP/3B, Glencoe, Minn.) came in for UMC in relief and did well, giving up just one hits in two innings with two strikeouts.

The win for the Bulldogs went to Spencer Diedrich, who has started in back-to-back years against the Golden Eagles and had great starts. Diedrich gave up just one earned run on five hits with eight strikeouts in six innings.

UMC was led in game one by Colton Haight (Sr., C/OF, Rogers, Minn.), who was 2-of-2 on the day. Thomas Kinsella (Sr., 2B, North Branch, Minn.) went 1-of-3 with two RBI's.

Minnesota Duluth was led by one of the best sluggers in all of NCAA baseball as Alex Wojciechowski, went 3-of-3 with five RBI's and two runs scored with his league-leading 21^st home run of the year.

UMC started out the scoring with Wojciechowski's three-run shot over the right field fence to make it 3-0 in the first.

They would add a run in the third as Kyle Comer hit an infield single to drive in Grant Farley to make it 4-0. Wojciechowski would score later in the inning on a pick-off play at first.

Wojciechowski continued his great game with a single to center to drive in Brian Pierce and Cory Krolikowski.

The Golden Eagles would cut into the lead and make it 7-2 as Kinsella singled to left in the sixth to drive in Ryan Haggstrom (Sr., 1B/RHP, Apple Valley, Minn.) and Reed Hjelle (Fr., OF/1B, East Grand Forks, Minn.). UMC would load the bases in the next at-bat as Mitchell Bornhauser (So., OF, Northfield, Minn.) was walked. However, Diedrich would get the final two outs as they kept the Golden Eagles at bay and would hang on for the win.

UMC would struggle in the third, led first by an error from Zach Frazier (So., C, Grand Rapids, Minn.) on a throw down to second as they gave up 10 unearned runs with two outs as the Golden Eagle pitchers could not get out of trouble as they used three pitchers in the inning.

The Golden Eagles would get strong performances in the game from Matthew Dallas (Jr., RHP, Boise, Idaho), who gave up no runs and no hits in one inning, and Zach Seipel (Fr., RHP, Eagan, Minn.), who retired all three batters faced including two strikeouts.

UMC's two runs would come as Jeremy Spinner (So., 2B/SS, Phoenix) walked with the bases loaded to score Kenny Perez (Sr., DH/1B, Orlando, Fla.) and Frazier singled to drive in Haight.

The Golden Eagles would be led by Haight, who was 2-of-2 with one run scored.

The loss for UMC went to Zac Carrillo (Jr., RHP, Manteca, Calif.), who gave up two earned runs on two hits in one inning. The Golden Eagles would end up using eight pitchers in the game.

The win for the Bulldogs went to Tommy Hanson, who pitched five innings and gave up one run on three hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.

The Golden Eagles will return to play as they remain on the raod to face U-Mary Sat., April 23 and Sun., April 24.