The University of Minnesota Duluth baseball team closed out their three game series with the Northern State University Wolves today, closing out another weekend of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play with a doubleheader split and a 2-1 series win.

Game One: UMD (7) - NSU (10)

The Bulldogs would tally on an early first run to start the afternoon when Ethan Cole would score Oran Hinkle from second base. The UMD bats would fall quiet for the next four innings as the Wolves would string together eight runs, including a three run home run in the fifth inning, to leave the Bulldogs at an 8-1 deficit. 

Cole would be the one to bring back the scoring momentum for the Dogs in the bottom of the sixth, launching a two run shot out to left field. This would give Sam Kliber and Michael Gabbard the opportunity to collect back to back RBI's, bringing UMD back within three runs before the end of the inning. The Wolves would tally on two more runs in the top of the seventh to cushion their lead, but the Bulldogs would answer back with a two run home run from Kade Peloquin to cancel them out. However, that is all the Bulldogs would get before the end of the game one loss.

Game Two: UMD (11) - NSU (8)

A leadoff triple from Gabbard to start off game two would help the Bulldogs tally the first run of the game. Trevor Gustafson and Troy Lynch would both go onto drive in two runs each, Gustafson on a single and Lynch on a double, the end the first inning with a 5-0 lead for UMD. The Dogs would collect another run in the next two innings, one in the second on an error from the catcher and another in the third on a RBI double from Henry Bushey, making it a 7-0 UMD lead heading into the fourth.

The Wolves would string together a couple of base hits, a hit by pitch, and a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth to cut into the Bulldog lead, pushing the score to 7-3. Though back to back doubles from Lynch and Gabbard in the bottom of the fifth would score another run for the Bulldogs and put them back up by five. They continued to build upon the extended lead, tallying another run in the sixth and another two runs in the seventh to take an 11-3 lead with two innings to go. The Wolves would continue to rely on the strong contact hitting to make up another five runs through the eighth and ninth, but would get cut short by the Bulldog defense to secure a UMD win to end the weekend.

Looking Ahead

Bulldog baseball will make a stop in St. Cloud to face off against the Huskies next before their weekend series the Beavers in Minot, ND. The first pitch on Wednesday, Apr. 17, is set for 1:30 PM.