In a battle for third place in NSIC baseball Wednesday afternoon, the Wayne State Wildcats held off final inning rallies by Sioux Falls in both games to beat the Cougars 4-1 and 5-4 at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex.  The 'Cats improve to 25-16 and 21-11 in the league while the Cougars drop to 22-25 and 18-14 in NSIC games.  
            The opener saw the Wildcats score all four runs in the fourth inning while sophomore starter Kyler Hanson allowed just one run over five innings as WSC posted a 4-1 win.
            Sioux Falls jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with three hits and one run to open the game.
            Hanson then held the Cougars without another hit until the fifth inning.
            The 'Cats scored all four runs in the fourth on just two hits, using three walks to help score four runs.
            With two outs and just one base runner, WSC used walks to Quinn McCafferty and Kaden Young to load the bases.  Junior third baseman Braden Cannon then delivered a bases-loaded clearing double to left field bringing in three runs.  Casey Prychak followed with an RBI single up the middle to score Cannon.
            Hanson fired five innings followed by relievers Conlin Grady and Cannon each working one inning. 
            Sioux Falls got the tying run on the base in the seventh as the Cougars loaded the bases with just one out, but Cannon got a strike out and line out to end the game to seal the win and record his eighth save of the season.
            WSC had just four hits in the win.  Cannon's bases loaded double was the only extra base hit of the game.  Prychak was 2 for 2 with an RBI while Chase Douglas also singled.
            Hanson improved to 1-1 on the year with five strong innings, allowing just four hits and one run. 
            The second game Wayne State trailed by as many as three runs before their first run would be scored on a Chaney sacrifice fly that allowed Cannon to get home.
            In the fifth inning and one out, the 'Cats scored another run on a sacrifice fly from senior Chase Douglas and advanced Chaney to the scoring position at third.
            Sophomore Max Heard hit a two-run homer out to right field to give Wayne State a 4-3 run after five innings of play.
            With Keinan Lentell on the bump, the Cougars would go down in order in the sixth inning.
            WSC would score an insurance run after Cam Madsen stole third base and the USF catcher made a throwing error that allowed Madsen to score.
Eli Crnkovich would come into the ball game to pitch for the Wildcats and would help strike out the side in the eighth inning.
            In the ninth and final inning, the Cougars opened with a double to right center. The next batter would hit to senior Quinn McCafferty and as he looked to throw the runner out at third, the ball would strike the helmet of the runner. As the Sioux Fall player got up and turned for home, third baseman Nate Cunningham would recover the ball and gun it home, being the runner for the first out.
            With one runner on and one out, USF would single and get one run scored, making it a 5-4 ball game. The final two outs would come in the fashion of a fly out to right center and a fielders choice to Cunningham who would step on the bag for the force out and the 'Cats would pick up the 5-4 win.
             Wayne State is on the road this weekend playing a three-game NSIC series at Northern State with a doubleheader Saturday and a nine-inning game Sunday in Aberdeen, South Dakota.