By Noah Grant / Sports Reporter / Sioux Falls, S.D.

-The St. Cloud State baseball team opened the NSIC Tournament with a 10-2 loss against the University of Sioux Falls Cougars on Wednesday. Home runs proved to be the difference in the contest as the Cougars scored seven of their 10 runs via the long ball.  

Frankie Volkers got the start on the mound for St. Cloud, and the righthander lasted three and a third innings on the mound while allowing five runs. Volkers walked four and struck out five while taking the loss.  

Sioux Falls got on the board first in the third inning, when Mitch Iliff’s towering fly ball carried out to right field for a two-run homer, scoring Dominic Vogel after he had drawn a walk.  

The Cougars would make it 5-0 in the fourth, bringing nine batters to the plate in the frame. Ryan Gouldin led off the inning with a single, and Noah Christenson followed with a deep fly ball to center field that landed for a triple. Another RBI single from Nolan Drossel and a sac fly from Iliff rounded out the scoring.  

The Huskies would get on the board in the top of the fifth when Blaine Guthrie launched a solo home run to left field to cut the deficit to four. It was Guthrie’s fifth homer of the year. St. Cloud was stymied for much of the afternoon against USF starter Jake Ammann, who went seven innings, allowing just two earned runs to pick up the win.  

The rest of the afternoon was the Jaxon Haase show for Sioux Falls. The power hitting third baseman hit two home runs to put the finishing touches on the game for the Cougars. Haase hit a three-run shot to left in the sixth to make it 8-1. In the bottom of the eighth, he did it again, driving a ball out to left center for a two-run homer.  

The Huskies would get their only other run in the top of the seventh, as Wilmis Castro tripled to open the inning and scored on when Hayden Konkol grounded into a double play. 

St. Cloud will play again on Thursday in a must-win game in order to keep their season alive. The Huskies face the University of Mary Marauders at noon at the Birdcage in Sioux Falls. Noah Grant will have the call on the KVSC Sports Stream.  

Photo Credit: Peyton Bartsch, SCSU Athletics.