By Noah Grant / Sports Reporter / St. Cloud, Minn.

-St. Cloud State Baseball picked up a mid-week sweep of Minnesota Duluth to open their home schedule on Tuesday. The Huskies were on fire in game one, scoring in five straight innings to win 18-0 before a come from behind 9-8 victory in game two. 

Game 1: SCSU 18, UMD 0 

The Huskies got off to a strong start in the bottom of the first. After two quick outs, freshman Ryan Cahoon walked, junior Wilmis Castro was hit by a pitch, and sophomore Jonathan Pribula reached on an error to load the bases. That set the stage for redshirt senior Eric Bello, who launched a grand slam to left-center field to put SCSU up 4-0. 

SCSU would tack on another in the second, as senior Nick Ibrahim hit a solo homer to lead off the inning and increase the lead to 5-0. 

The Huskies would bat around in the next two innings, bringing nine batters to the plate in the third and 11 batters to the plate in the fourth. In the third, Cahoon walked and scored on a double to the right-center field gap by Castro. After a walk, redshirt freshman Max Robinson and Ibrahim followed with RBI singles to make it 8-0 Huskies. Redshirt junior Hayden Frank followed with a two-out, two-run single to score Robinson and Ibrahim. 

In the fourth, Cahoon was hit by a pitch and Castro doubled to put runners on second and third. Pribula then hit a grounder to first and the resulting throw to the plate was thrown away, allowing Cahoon to score. After a hit by pitch loaded the bases, Robinson lifted a sacrifice fly to left field. With the score 12-0, Ibrahim picked up his third hit of the game with a two-run single. Redshirt junior Hayden Konkol would follow with an RBI double to score Ibrahim and make it 15-0. Konkol would later score on a UMD error. 

In the fifth, the Huskies would complete their offensive showing in the fifth, as redshirt freshman Jack Clark hit a solo home run to right field to increase the lead to 17-0. After a pinch-hit single from sophomore Austin Baumhover and a pinch-hit double from junior Dawson Schmidt put runners on second and third and set up an RBI single from Konkol to round out the offense. 

On the mound, redshirt freshman Conner Larson was excellent, throwing 4.1 innings scoreless while striking out six. A pair of SCSU freshmen, Karl Schiebe and Parker Erickson made their NCAA debuts in relief to preserve the shutout. 

Game 2: SCSU 9, UMD 8 

UMD would take their first lead of the series in the second inning to open the scoring, taking advantage of a single and three walks to go up 1-0. The Huskies would answer back immediately in the bottom of the frame, also by way of the free pass. Jonathan Pribula and Nick Ibrahim both walked with one out and Hayden Konkol was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Hayden Frank then drew another walk, allowing Pribula to score and tie the game.

The Bulldogs would continue to tack on runs, scoring single runs in the third and fourth on RBI singles from Logan Myers and Michael Gabbard before a two-out, two-run double in the fifth from Thomas Hanson made it 5-1 UMD. The Huskies responded in the bottom of the fifth, again aided by the free pass. Liam Moreno was hit by a pitch and Ryan Cahoon walked, bringing up Wilmis Castro who ripped a double to score Moreno. With runners on second and third, Bello grounded out to the shortstop. Castro was caught in a rundown between second and third and tagged for the second out, but Cahoon managed to score on the play to cut the deficit down to two. 

The teams would trade a pair of runs in the sixth, as the Bulldogs struck for a two-run homer to right field off the bat of Gabe Richardson, but the Huskies would score two of their own without a ball put in play. Pribula, Konkol, and Frank walked to load the bases. After a pitching change, Moreno and Cahoon both worked RBI walks to force in two runs and make it 7-5 UMD. 

Redshirt sophomore Parker Lewin was able to work out of a jam in the seventh with runners on second and third and only one out by recording two strikeouts and giving the Huskies bats a chance to go to work. A walk to Bello opened the home half of the seventh, followed by Robinson getting hit by a pitch. A fielder’s choice and an Ibrahim single followed to load the bases with just one out. Konkol then roped a fly ball that hopped up against the left field wall, scoring two and tying the game at 7-7. With two outs, Moreno was hit by a pitch for the second time to re-load the bases and Cahoon worked another RBI walk to give SCSU the lead. 

The Huskies would take advantage of another RBI walk in the eighth to tack on an insurance run. Once again, a Bello walk opened the inning followed by a Robinson single. Ibrahim would single, and after a fielder’s choice Frank came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and was able to work the free pass to score Robinson. 

UMD had a chance in the ninth, loading the bases with one out. Redshirt senior Cael Kolacia came on in relief for the Huskies. With a full count, Kolacia was called for a pitch clock violation, resulting in a walk and a run scoring to make it 9-8 SCSU. From there, however, Kolacia struck out the next hitter and induced a fly out to center field to end the game and pick up the save. 

With the wins, the Huskies improve to 15-14 on the season and 11-5 in NSIC play. They will get a week off before they’re back in action, taking on Minnesota Crookston on the road on April 8. The doubleheader is slated to start at 1:30 p.m.

Photo credit: SCSU Athletics