The Wayne State baseball team needed a late rally in the nightcap, working extra innings for a 6-3 11-inning win, to gain a split at Northern State in Northern Sun Conference baseball Saturday afternoon at Fossum Field in Aberdeen, South Dakota after the host Wolves captured the opener 3-2.  The Wildcats are now 26-17 and 22-12 in the NSIC following the split with Northern State at 12-29 and 8-26 in conference play.
            The opener saw both teams record just one hit in the low-scoring contest, but the host Wolves took advantage of five walks from WSC pitching and three Wildcat errors to record a 3-2 win.
            Northern State scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings and got their lone hit of the game in the fifth inning, a leadoff single.
            Wayne State scored both of their runs in the sixth inning, using three walks and the lone Wildcat hit of the game, an RBI single from Quinn McCafferty, to score two runs.  Cam Madsen walked and scored on McCafferty's single while the second run was Max Heard touching home plate on a wild pitch following a walk earlier in the inning.
            Wildcat starting pitcher Jackson Shelburne (4-3) suffered the loss, allowing just one hit and three runs (one earned) in four innings of work with three strikeouts and five walks.  Reliever Conlin Grady worked the final two innings without giving up a hit and striking out two batters.
            The second game saw the Wildcats rally with single runs in the eighth and ninth to force extra innings, then get out of a jam in the 10^th before scoring three runs in the 11^th for a 6-3 win and a split.
            WSC opened the scoring in the fourth on an RBI groundout from Braden Cannon that scored Taylor Gill (single) for a 1-0 lead.
            NSU then took a 3-1 lead in the fifth scoring three times and the score stayed that way until the eighth.  The 'Cats used a single from Chase Douglas and a double by Max Heard to put runners in scoring position with a Gill RBI groundout scoring Douglas to cut the Wolves' lead to 3-2. 
            In the ninth, Brayden Chaney was hit by a pitch, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Douglas single to even the score at 3-3 and send the contest into extra innings.
            Northern State nearly won the game in the 10^th, putting runners on second and third with just one out.  But closer Braden Cannon came on and got a pair of pop ups to end the Wolves threat.
            Then in the 11^th, the 'Cats used two hits to go with three Northern State errors to score three runs to grab a 6-3 lead, which Cannon held onto in the bottom of the inning to pick up the win.  Gill had an RBI single in the inning with the other runs scoring as a result of NSU errors.
            WSC ended the game with eight hits, one less than NSU.  Heard had the only extra base hit for WSC, a double.  Gill was 2 for 6 with a pair of RBI while Kaden Young and Douglas each singled twice.
            Clay Beaumont started the game and worked five innings, giving up three runs on six hits with three strikeouts.  Three Wildcat relievers then held Northern State scoreless the rest of the game.  Keinan Lentell pitched two scoreless innings, giving up just one hit.  Senior Jacob Kneifl worked the following 2 1/3 innings and allowed two hits.  It was Kneifl's 65^th career appearance on the mound for WSC, matching the school record currently held by Nick Schumacher from 2004-08.  Cannon fired the final 1 2/3 innings with hitless relief to earn the win, now 1-1 on the season.
            Wayne State and Northern State conclude their three-game NSIC series Sunday with a nine-inning game set for 12 p.m. in Aberdeen, South Dakota.