Game 1: Northern State 10 Wayne State 9
Game 2: Wayne State 15 Northern State 3
The Wayne State baseball team split a twin bill with Northern State Sunday afternoon at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex in Wayne. A late rally by the Wildcats fell just short as WSC fell to Northern State 10-9 in game one. Wayne State used 15 hits and four doubles to take a bite out of the Wolves in a 15-3 win in game two. The split makes Wayne State 20-15 overall and 15-4 in the NSIC. The Wolves are now 5-32 overall and 2-18 in the conference after the split.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first two innings of game one as Joe Wendte would score off of a double play ball to give WSC a 1-0 after one inning. Junior Mike Bisenius would nail a solo home run to expand the lead to 2-0 in the second inning. Wendte hit his 11th homer of the year later in the second as the two run shot gave Wayne State a 4-0 lead.
Northern State went on a run in the fourth and fifth innings as the Wolves scored seven runs to take a 7-4 advantage. WSC would add a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-5, but NSU added three more runs and the Wildcats added one more to make the score 10-6 going into the bottom of the ninth. Freshman Justin Beranek hit a bases clearing double in the bottom of the ninth to pull the Wildcats to within one, but that's as close as WSC would get falling 10-9.
Beranek was 3 for 5 with a double and three RBI's for WSC. Wendte went 2 for 3 with three runs scored. Jake Ritzdorf and Nick Bidroski each added two hits with Ritzdorf adding two RBI's and Bidroski adding one.
Josh Voth (1-4) took the loss for the Wildcats pitching four and a third innings. Trevor Reeves went three and two thirds and Sam Rathbun pitched one inning for the Wayne State pitching staff.
Wayne State got on the board first in game two scoring three runs in the second inning. The inning was highlighted by Beranek's first career home run as a Wildcat as he hit a bomb to left field . Northern State got on the board in the top of the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 3-1. Wayne State would add another run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Wolves responded with two more runs in the fifth to make it a 4-3 game.
The Wildcats' bats would come to life in the fifth and sixth innings as Wayne State added four runs in the fifth and seven in the sixth to run away with a 15-3 win. The innings were highlighted by nine hits, three of which were doubles.
The Wildcats offense was once again paced by Beranek as he went 3 for 3 with four RBI's and three runs scored. Bidroski went 4 for 4 with four RBI's and extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Wendte added two hits to go along with four runs scored.
Tadd Johansen (2-0) pitched four and a third innings to earn his second win of the season. Johansen struck out seven batters and allowed four hits. Rathbun pitched an inning and two thirds of relief and Josh Nelsen pitched a perfect seventh inning out of the Bullpen for WSC
Wayne State is scheduled to be at home again on Wednesday hosting St. Cloud State in a Northern Sun Conference doubleheader starting at noon at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex.
