Game 1- NSU 9 WSC 5

Game 2- WSC 13 NSU 2 7 Innings

            Wayne State spilt an NSIC doubleheader with Northern State Saturday afternoon at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex in Wayne, America. The Wolves took the opening game of the series 9-5 with the Wildcats taking the second game 13-2 in seven innings. Wayne State's Eric Schwieger pitched a complete game in the second contest allowing only two runs on seven hits. Junior Travis Parsons had five RBI's on the day as the Loveland, Colorado native hit a grand slam in the second game to pace the Wildcat's offense. WSC is now 8-8 overall and 1-1 in the NSIC after the split as NSU moves to 3-11 overall and 1-5 in the NSIC.

            The Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning of the first contest. Senior Josh Nielsen led off the inning with a bunt down the first base line and would later score on a Patrick Burkhart double to right centerfield. Burkhart scored later in the inning off of a fielder's choice off the bat of Parsons to make it 2-0.

            Northern State responded with four runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead. The Wolves scored all four runs with two men down in the inning. Northern State added a run in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead. The Wildcats added a pair of runs to cut it to 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Senior Nick Bidroski hit a sacrifice fly driving in Mike Bisenius to cut the lead to 5-3. Taylor Welk then drove in Justin Beranek to cut the Wolves lead to 5-4 after five innings.

            NSU continued to put runs on the board in the final two innings of play as the Wolves added two runs in the sixth and seventh inning to take the opening game of the four game series 9-5.

            Austen Wisroth (3-2) took the loss throwing 5 2/3 innings for Wayne State allowing seven runs with only one of the runs being earned. Wisroth had five strikeouts and allowed nine hits. Trevor Reeves threw the final inning and a third for WSC allowing two runs on four hits.

            The Wildcats had 12 hits in the first game, but managed only five runs. Burkhart, Bidroski and Welk each added two hits for WSC offensively. Burkhart added two runs for Wayne State as the junior went 2 for 4 in game one.

            The Cats' offense came to life in the opening innings of the second contest. The Wildcats added two runs in the first inning to jump out to an early lead. Braulio Acosta opened up the bottom of the first with a double to left center field. Acosta would then score on a Bisenius RBI single down the right field line. Burkhart added the second run of the inning scoring on sacrifice fly by Beranek.

            Wayne State added 10 runs in the second inning to jump out to a 12-0 lead. The inning was highlighted by only three hits and a trio of errors by Northern State. Parsons capitalized with the bases loaded pounding a grand slam over the left field fence for his second home run of the season. Welk added an RBI double down the left field line in the inning as the Wildcats offense scored 10 runs in an inning for the first time this season.

            Starter Eric Schwieger (1-2) took over from there as the sophomore from Grand Island threw seven inning allowing only two runs on seven hits as Wayne State took the second game 13-2. Schwieger had three strikeouts in the game, but managed to squeeze out three double plays.

            Parsons was 1 for 4 with four RBI's to pace Wayne State. Acosta was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and one RBI. Beranek was 1 for 3 with two RBI's and one run scored. Bidroski was 1 for 2 with a double and two runs scored to go with an RBI.

            Wayne State and Northern State will close out the four game set tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 p.m. at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex in Wayne.