The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Baseball team, who was in Covid-19 protocol and in quarantine for 10 days without any practice or games during that time, beat the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs 5-3 in the first game and lost 8-7 in 10 innings in a Northern Sun Conference doubleheader in Crookston.
GAME ONE-
UMC had their ace, Jake Dykhoff (Jr. Wadena), on the mound to start game one and the first batter he faced flew out and then he struck out the next two for a 1-2-3 inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, UMC’s first two batters struck out. As they have done all season long, the Golden Eagles were tough with two outs and Brock Reller (Jr. Grand Forks) walked, Scott Finberg (Sr. Stillwater) reached on an error. Jake Hjelle (Fresh. East Grand Forks) walked to load the bases and Eli Jung (Jr. Dickinson, ND) hit a bases-clearing double to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead after one inning of play.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Jung was hit by a pitch with one out. The next UMC batter struck out for the second out, but Trey Larimer (Fresh. Thompson, ND) hit a two-run home run over the left field fence to take a 5-0 lead.
Dykhoff retired the first 13 batters he faced and allowed his first baserunner with a walk in the top of the fifth inning. The next batter doubled and a run scored on a wild pitch to cut UMC’s lead to 5-1.
Southwest had a strong sixth inning with a solo home run and after a single and the second out of the inning, the Mustangs had a double to score the second run of the inning to get within a 5-3 deficit.
In the top of the seventh inning, UMC actually had four outs, but one of the Mustangs reached on a passed ball after a strikeout, but they didn’t score and UMC held on for a 5-3 victory.
UMC only had three hits in the game with Eli Jung going 2 for 2 with 3 RBI and a run. Tyler Jochen had the other hit. Jake Dykhoff improved to 4-0 on the year going the distance while allowing three runs on four hits, striking out 11, and only walking two.
FOR THE GAME ONE BOX SCORE, CLICK HERE.
GAME TWO –
Southwest Minnesota got off to a good start in game two getting on the board in the top of the first inning. A one-out walk came around to score after a wild pitch and a two-out, two-strike single to give the Mustangs the 1-0 lead.
UMC got a two-out walk from Reller, but were not able to do anything with it and went scoreless in the first inning.
The Mustangs got right back on the scoreboard with a leadoff homerun in the second to double their lead at 2-0.
UMC answered back in the bottom half with a run of their own. Hjelle hit a leadoff single and he scored when the right fielder committed an error on a ball off the bat of Jung to get it back to a one run deficit of 2-1. The inning stalled, however, after Jung was picked off and the next two hitters struck out.
The Mustangs kept on scoring in the third inning with two more runs. They got another leadoff runner on with a single. The runner then stole second and advanced to third on the catcher’s throwing error. That did not matter though, as two batters later the Mustangs hit a two-run homerun on a 3-0 count to make it a 4-1 ballgame.
The Golden Eagles brought their own power in the bottom of the third inning allowing them to grab their first lead of the game. Landyn Swenson (Sr. Devils Lake, ND) led off the inning with a solo shot to left center field to cut the lead to 4-2. After a walk and a hit-by-pitch and a couple of groundouts, Hjelle continued the Golden Eagles impressive two-out hitting with a three-run homerun to left field to put UMC on top, 5-4 after three innings.
In the fourth inning, the Golden Eagles walked the bases loaded, but a huge strikeout from the UMC reliever, Jake Osowski (Fr. East Grand Forks), got them out of the jam.
UMC got a leadoff single in the fourth and bunted him to second, but a foul out and pop up ended the inning.
After both teams went scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings as well, Southwest Minnesota was able to tie up the game in the seventh inning. Garrett Hohn (Sr. Wausau, WI) got the first two hitters out on five pitches, but then gave up a solo homerun to tie the game at 5-5.
Swenson led off the seventh with a single and was bunted to second. A walk and a hit-by-pitch later in the inning loaded the bases with two outs, but a flyout left the Golden Eagles scoreless.
Southwest Minnesota continued to score as they snatched the lead right back with another run in the eighth. Another homerun for the Mustangs, a solo homerun, with one out in the inning gave them a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.
UMC was retired in order in their half of the inning meaning they needed a ninth inning comeback.
The Mustangs added a much-needed insurance run in the top of the ninth. Once again, a leadoff single came around to score. The runner advanced to second on a wild pitch leading to UMC intentionally walking the batter. After consecutive foul outs, the Mustangs got their own two-out base hit to score the runner from second and give them a two-run lead at 7-5.
UMC needed a couple of runs in the ninth to extend the game and that is exactly what they got. Back-to-back strikeouts to begin the inning gave a bleak outlook on their comeback chances. However, a walk from Mason Ruhlman (Sr. Algonac, MI) brought the tying run to the plate. Southwest Minnesota elected to pitch to Reller, the Golden Eagles’ leader in nearly all of the offensive categories, and Reller made it hurt as he hit a no-doubt homerun to right-center field to tie the game at 7-7 and send the game into extra innings.
The Mustangs were not phased as they scored a run in their fourth consecutive inning to retake the lead 8-7. The leadoff hitter reached second on an error on the UMC left fielder. After an infield pop out, a single to right field scored the runner from second to give Southwest Minnesota the lead.
UMC was turned away in the bottom of the tenth, going down in order, to fall in game two by a score of 8-7 and split with the Mustangs in the doubleheader.
FOR THE GAME TWO BOX SCORE, CLICK HERE.
UMC is now 17-3 on the season and 12-3 in NSIC play and will travel to St. Cloud State on Saturday.
Southwest Minnesota States is now 10-16 overall and 8-15 in the Northern Sun Conference.
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