The St. Cloud State Huskies scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Baseball team 10-9 in a slugfest in Leesburg, Florida. UMC outhit St. Cloud State 15-13 but committed four errors in the game. The game wrapped up nine games in Florida for UMC.
St. Cloud State jumped on UMC right away in the bottom of the first inning with a double, an rbi single which was followed by a two-run home run for a 3-0 lead.
UMC answered with a run in the top of the second inning when Scott Finberg (Sr. Stillwater) walked and scored on a Jake Hjelle (Fresh. East Grand Forks). St. Cloud State responded with two runs in the bottom of the second after a leadoff double and an rbi ground out followed by an rbi single for a 5-1 lead.
UMC exploded in the top of the third inning when Ben Bryant (Soph. Fargo, ND) and Mason Ruhlman (Sr. Algonac, Mich) had back-to-back singles. After a flyout, UMC’s Brock Reller (Jr. Grand Forks, ND) tripled to score two runs. Finberg kept the inning going with an rbi single before Ben Thoma (Jr. Cleabrook) hit a two-run home run and Eli Jung (Jr. Dickinson, ND) followed with a solo home run and the Golden Eagles led 7-5.
Minnesota Crookston added another run on a passed ball in the fifth inning for an 8-5 lead. St. Cloud State answered in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run and added another run on a single to cut UMC’s lead to 8-7.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, UMC brought in their fourth pitcher of the game and it didn’t work out well as St. Cloud State started the inning with a double and two walks and a run scored on an error by the pitcher. After another UMC pitching change, the next Husky batter reached on a fielders choice and a run scored and they added one more run on another single to take a 10-8 lead.
UMC responded in a big way with a Reller home run to get within a 10-9 deficit with nobody out. After a ground out, Thoma was hit by a pitch and Jung walked. The next two batters for UMC were retired and St. Cloud State got out of the jam with a 10-9 lead.
In the top of the ninth inning, UMC’s Ruhlman drew a one-out walk but the next two Golden Eagles batters were retired and St. Cloud State held on for a 10-9 victory.
UMC drops to 8-5 on the year and is scheduled to start Northern Sun Conference play on Saturday, March 14 at Winona State. St. Cloud State improves to 8-3 on the year.
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