AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Hunter Baldwin (R-Jr., 1B/3B, St. Thomas, N.D.) came through with a single in the 11^thinning to drive in Brock Reller (So., OF, Grand Forks, N.D.) as the University of Minnesota Crookston baseball team walked off with a 7-6 win over West Virginia Wesleyan College Sat., March 9. The extra inning tilt was played at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in Auburndale, Fla., as part of the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.

The Golden Eagles improve to 7-6 with Saturday's win over the Bobcats. Minnesota Crookston has posted a 5-2 mark during their trip to the "Sunshine State". West Virginia Wesleyan falls to 7-9 with the loss.

Dalton Grose (R-So., LHP, Waterville, Minn.) continues his stellar pitching for the Golden Eagles. Grose moves to 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 8.2 innings of work with two saves, 10 strikeouts, and four walks. The lefty pitched 3.1 innings Saturday with no runs allowed on three hits with a strikeout, and a walk.

Jayden Grover (Jr., RHP, Cooperstown, N.D.) continues to put Minnesota Crookston in a position to win. Grover dealt five frames with just two earned runs allowed on four hits with one strikeout, and three walks. Opposing batters are hitting just .203 on the season against Grover.

Matt Nelson (Fr., RHP, Afton, Minn.) was strong in relief with a shutout sixth inning with one hit, one walk, and one strikeout. Conner Richardson (Fr., Grand Forks, N.D.) pitched one inning with no runs on one hit, with one strikeout. Aaron Hollcraft (Sr., LHP, Crookston, Minn.) gave up three runs on three hits in 0.2 innings of work.

Minnesota Crookston was led by Bobby Chu (Jr., C, Redwood City, Calif.), who went 2-of-5 with two RBIs and one run scored. Scott Finberg (Jr., 3B, Stillwater, Minn.) went 2-of-5 with two runs scored, while Bryce Jorgenson (Jr., UT, Thunder Bay, Ontario) hit 2-of-5 with two runs scored.

Baldwin was 1-of-2 after coming on later in the game. He had the game-winning RBI.

The loss for the Bobcats went to Jake Hakey in relief, who allowed one run on two hits in 0.2 innings of work. Hunter Rotarius got the start and gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings. Kyle Riggleman was strong in relief for West Virginia Wesleyan, dealing four innings with no earned runs on one hit.

The Bobcats were led offensively by Eric Forbrick, who went 3-of-5 with a run scored. Antonio Vega was 2-of-5 with one RBI, and two runs scored.

West Virginia Wesleyan got the scoring started as Greg Smith came to the plate on a Johnathan Cintron ground out to make it 1-0.

The Golden Eagles evened up the slate 1-1 in the bottom of the first as Ben Thoma (So., C/2B, Clearbrook, Minn.) singled to left field to drive in Jorgenson.

The Bobcats broke the tie with two runs in the fourth frame. Vega delivered a double to plate Forbrick to push the score to 2-1. Alex Skinner then singled to left field to bring in Vega and give West Virginia Wesleyan a 3-1 advantage.
Minnesota Crookston countered with a big stanza in the bottom of the fourth. Chu was crucial with a single to right field to bring home Finberg and Travis Conoryea (R-So., OF/C, Inver Grove Heights, Minn.). Landyn Swenson (Jr., OF, Devils Lake, N.D.) then put down a bunt single to drive in Chu to put the Golden Eagles ahead 4-3. A sacrifice fly from Thoma brought Jorgenson home to extend the Minnesota Crookston lead to 5-3.

The Golden Eagles widened the gap to 6-3 in the seventh inning when Finberg came in to score on a Griffin Fussy (R-So., SS, Ham Lake, Minn.) groundout.

West Virginia Wesleyan made things interesting with a big eighth frame. A Tanner McCallister single started off the frame, as he plated Vega to cut the deficit to 6-4. Smith then delivered with a single to right field to bring in Nick Grotti. The Bobcats knotted the game up 6-6 with a Cintron single to drive in McCallister.

The game would go into extra innings with both teams staying tied up at 6-6. The Golden Eagles were the team that was able to break the tie in the bottom of the 11^th. Reller started it out as he doubled to left center with two outs. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Baldwin came up in the big spot and singled to left field as Minnesota Crookston walked off with the 7-6 win.

The Golden Eagles will wrap up their trip in Florida Sun., March 10 as they take on New York Institute of Technology at 8:15 a.m. C.T. at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla. Minnesota Crookston fell March 8 in their first meeting with NYIT 4-2. The Bears are 2-1 against NSIC opponents in Florida with wins over the Golden Eagles and University of Minnesota Duluth, and a loss to Augustana University.