Noah Grant

St. Cloud State Baseball (18-20, 14-11 NSIC) were shutout in the opening two games of their series

against Minot State (16-21, 11-16 NSIC) at Joe Faber Field. The Beavers took both games by identical

2-0 scores, holding the Huskies to just nine hits on the day. The offensive woes continue for SCSU, who

have not scored a run across the last three games and 26 innings.

Game 1: MNT 2, SCSU 0

The only two runs of the ballgame would come in the top of the first inning for Minot State. After two quick

outs, a single to left-center field by Noah Madas set the stage for a two-run homer to right field for Cowen

Meyer. That would be all the offense that the Beavers needed as they picked up a shutout win behind

excellent pitching.

Ayden Sauerbrei got the start for Minot State, throwing all seven innings to pick up his first career

complete game on the mound. Sauerbrei surrendered just four hits and struck out six, only allowing two

baserunners to reach second base.

For the Huskies, senior Kahler Key made the start on the mound for SCSU and was terrific, also throwing

his first complete game. The Meyer home run was the only runs that Key gave up, and the right-hander

struck out seven in the loss.

Game 2: MNT 2, SCSU 0

In game two, the Huskies would turn to redshirt freshman Conner Larson to make the start. Larson turned

in one of his best games of his collegiate career, pitching six strong innings with nine strikeouts and zero

earned runs. It was a career-high in strikeouts for Larson, who has not allowed an earned run across his

last 16.1 innings of work.

The Huskies had their best chance to score in the bottom of the second. With one out, senior Wyatt Tweet

singled and redshirt junior Hayden Frank doubled down the left field line to put runners on second and

third. From there, Minot State starter Wyatt Toth struck out two batters to end the threat.

Toth was lights out on the mound, completing eight innings on the mound for his longest collegiate start.

He struck out six batters while allowing just five hits and no walks.

Minot State was able to get on the board in the third after Larson struck out four batters across the first

two innings. The third inning started with a strikeout, but a wild pitch on strike three allowed a base runner

to reach. Two Huskies errors and a base hit would bring in a pair of runs to make it 2-0 Beavers.

Redshirt sophomore Parker Lewin and junior Seth Luther combined to get the final nine outs for the

Huskies out of the bullpen, but SCSU wasn’t able to mount a comeback and fell 2-0.

Up Next

SCSU will be back in action tomorrow as they look to salvage a game from the series against Minot State.

First pitch will be at noon from Joe Faber Field, with Noah Grant and Joey Hudson on the call

photo credit: SCSU Athletics