The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Baseball team was enjoying a beautiful, sunny, and 66-degree day in Fort Scott, Kansas so much that they played 12 innings and scored two runs in the bottom of the 11th to beat the St. Cloud State Huskies 10-9. The UMC win was only the second-ever over St. Cloud State in the program’s history.
UMC was the home team on the scoreboard and held St. Cloud State scoreless in the top of the first inning. The Golden Eagles struck first in the bottom of the inning when Ben Bryant (Soph. Fargo, ND) led off with a double to left-center field. Will Zimmerman (Sr. Park River, ND) reached on a fielder’s choice and Brock Reller (Jr. Grand Forks, ND) hit a two-run homerun for a 2-0 lead through one inning of play.
Neither team scored until UMC added two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. UMC’s Bobby Chu (Sr. Redwood City, CA), Landyn Swenson (Sr. Devils Lake, ND), and Ben Bryant (Soph. Fargo, ND) walked to load the bases with one out. Zimmerman reached on a fielders choice to score a run and Swenson scored on a pass ball to give the Golden Eagles a 4-0 lead.
UMC added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Scott Finberg (Sr. Stillwater) singled, Jake Hjelle (Fresh. East Grand Forks) walked, and after a ground-out, Finberg scored to give Crookston a 5-0 lead.
St. Cloud State finally got on the board in the top of the seventh inning when they scored three runs on three hits while stranding three to get within a 5-3 deficit. UMC answered in the bottom of the inning with a Reller three-run home run for an 8-3 lead.
Things were looking good for UMC going into the top of the ninth inning, but the Golden Eagle pitching struggled. The first St. Cloud State batter was hit by a pitch, the next batter walked. After a pitching change, the Huskies dingled to score two runs and added another run on a sacrifice fly to get within an 8-6 deficit. After the Golden Eagles got the second out of the inning, the next Husky batter hit a two-run home run to tie the game at 8-8. The next batter was retired on a ground out to force the bottom of the night inning. UMC started the bottom of th ninth with a Zimmerman walked. After an out, Reller was intentionally walked, but the next two Golden Eagle batters were retired to force extra innings.
Nobody scored in the 10th inning.
In the top of the 11th inning, St. Cloud State led off with a walk, the next batter was hit by a pitch. After a ground out, a run scored on a sacrifice fly for a 9-8 lead. UMC needed to score a run to tie the game and two runs to win. Zimmerman was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Mason Ruhlman doubled to score a run, tying the game at 9-9 with nobody out. Reller was intentionally walked again, and after a pop out, Hjelle reached on a fielders choice and Ruhlman scored on an error on the second baseman and UMC won 10-9.
UMC had 10 runs on eight hits while drawing nine walks. St. Cloud State had nine runs on 10 hits while drawing seven walks. Brock Reller was 2-4 with five rbi’s, two runs, and two intentional walks.
Jake Dykhoff (Jr. Wadena) started the game on the mound and scattered six hits over six innings while only allowing one run, two walks while striking out nine batters. Alex Koep (Fresh. Parkers Prairie) picked up the win pitching the 11th inning while giving up one run and one walk while walking one and hitting one batter.
Crookston improves to 2-0 on the year and will take on St. Cloud State on Monday at 11:30 a.m. St. Cloud State drops to 0-2 on the year.
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