CROOKSTON, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston baseball team fell to University of Sioux Falls 10-1 and 3-2 in their home openers at UMC Baseball Field Wed., April 3 in Crookston, Minn. The Golden Eagles were plagued with errors as they had six on game one to fall 10-1. In the second tilt,
Nate Albrecht (Sr., LHP, Wahpeton, N.D.) put Minnesota Crookston in a position to win but they were unable to capitalize on opportunities in a 3-2 loss.
The Golden Eagles are still off to one of their best conference starts in school history with a 14-10 (7-3 NSIC) mark. Minnesota Crookston sits in fifth place in the NSIC standings after Wednesday. The Golden Eagles picked up votes in the NCBWA Central Region Poll for the second-consecutive week going into the games Wednesday. Sioux Falls moves to 6-22 (4-11 NSIC) with Wednesday's losses.
Game One
The Golden Eagles were unable to overcome defensive miscues that led to big innings for the Cougars as they fell 10-1 in the opening game.
Zach Rustad (Sr., LHP, Blaine, Minn.) moved to 3-4 on the season as he allowed eight runs, two of which were earned, on five hits with five strikeouts and four walks.
Matt Nelson (Fr., RHP, Afton, Minn.) came on in relief and gave up no runs on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
Esten Beneda (R-Jr., RHP, Lankin, N.D.) allowed one run on two hits in an inning of work, while
Tyler Hegg (Fr., RHP, Thompson, N.D.) allowed one run on one hit in an inning for Minnesota Crookston.
The Golden Eagles were led by
Griffin Fussy (R-So., SS, Ham Lake, Minn.), who went 1-of-2 with one RBI.
Scott Finberg (Jr., 3B, Stillwater, Minn.) finished the game going 1-of-2 with one run scored.
Ben Thoma (So., C/SS, Clearbrook, Minn.) went 1-of-2, while
Bryce Jorgenson (Jr., UT, Thunder Bay, Ontario) was 1-of-3.
The win for Sioux Falls went to Matt Graham, who allowed just one run on five hits with five strikeouts and a walk over six innings. Spencer Dokken came on in relief and put up a zero in one inning with two strikeouts.
The Cougars looked to Josh Rehwaldt, who was 3-of-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Sam Michels was 3-of-4 with three RBIs, while Ryan Bernardy went 2-of-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Sioux Falls quickly got on the board as Rehwaldt tripled to left center to plate Connor King. Later in the frame, Grant Lung stole second and advanced on third on an errant throw down to second by Thoma at catcher. Rehwaldt
crossed the plate on the error to move the lead to 2-0. To round out the inning, Michels singled to center field to plate Lung to extend the lead to 3-0.
In the third frame, Michels hit an infield single to plate Bernardy and move the advantage to 4-0.
Sioux Falls had a big inning in the fourth as Minnesota Crookston had three-straight errors to open up the inning. The first run crossed as Trey Hubers scored on an error by the pitcher. Meyer crossed on an error by Thoma at catcher to move the lead to 6-0. With the bases loaded later in the frame, Bernardy walked to plate King. The Cougars pushed their lead out to 8-0 when Michels singled to left field to drive in Rehwaldt.
The Golden Eagles cut the deficit to 8-1 in the bottom of the fifth when Fussy doubled to right center to plate Finberg.
Sioux Falls got the run back in the bottom of the sixth when Nash Dalzell singled to left field to plate Alex Robinson.
The Cougars put the final tally on the board in the top of the seventh when Robinson singled to right field to drive in King.
Game Two
The Golden Eagles were tied up 2-2 with the Cougars through much of Wednesday's second game, but Sioux Falls got the game winning run as King reached on an error in the seventh to plate Dalzell.
Albrecht went seven innings on the bump and competed well for the Golden Eagles, as he gave up two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Albrecht fell to 2-2 despite a strong start.
Dalton Grose (R-So., LHP, Waterville, Minn.) came on in relief and shut out the Cougars with no runs on one hit with four strikeouts and a walk in two innings.
Christian Lazar got the win in relief for the Cougars as he allowed no runs on no hits with two strikeouts in 2.1 innings of work. Payton Livingston started the game and allowed just one run on two hits with six strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Keenahn Coyle also pitched, while Mitchell Lyall picked up his first save of the year with no runs allowed on no hits with two strikeouts in one stanza.
The Golden Eagles had just three hits in the second game. Finberg went 1-of-3 with his fifth home run on the season.
Bobby Chu (Jr., Redwood City, Calif.) was 1-of-3 while
Reed Hjelle (Sr., 1B, East Grand Forks, Minn.) went 1-of-4, while Jorgenson scored a run.
Robinson was 3-of-4 with one run scored. Bernardy was 1-of-3 with two RBIs, while Dalzell was 1-of-4 with one run scored.
Sioux Falls opened the game in the first frame with two runs as Bernardy doubled to right field to drive in Robinson and Lung.
Minnesota Crookston cut the lead to 2-1 as Jorgenson stole third and then scored on an error by the catcher.
Finberg tied the game up at 2-2 with a solo home run by Finberg.
The Cougars picked up the game-winning run in the seventh as King reached on an error, allowing Dalzell to come in to score to put the game at 3-2.
Minnesota Crookston will play a three-game series with Upper Iowa University Sat., April 6 at 1 and 3 p.m., and Sun., April 7 at 12 p.m.
