Statesman

Issue date: 4/28/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Joe Olivieri Junior Tyler Erickson digs for third in Sunday's game.

Media Credit: Joe Olivieri Junior Josh Foreman deals a pitch to the plate in Sunday's game against the Warriors.

With the UMD baseball season drawing to within its final five games the team is still looking to earn a berth into the playoffs. The team dwelling in the cellar of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) played host to the second-ranked Winona State Warriors on Sunday and Monday afternoon.

Game one on Sunday was high scoring and, despite the underdog position, the Bulldogs were ahead early 7-3 going into the third inning. With the motivation of senior Will Dahlgren who hit a three run homer in the bottom of the second things were looking good for the Dogs.

A Warrior home run in the top of the fourth put Winona within one, and the game stayed close until the top of the eighth. UMD had a 11-8 lead and things were looking good, until Winona batted around in the eighth inning. Two home runs, a three run homer and a two run homer made up a large part of their scoring but two additional runs put the game out of reach making it 15-11 in Winona's favor.

In the second game on Sunday UMD was able to hold off the Warriors and earn the split on the day. A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second by sophomore Troy Hoeppner scored senior Bryan Denisen to give them the early lead, and in the third Denisen added his own power to the mix hitting a two run homer for the 3-0 lead.

Winona responded with two runs in the fourth, but Denisen struck again in the fifth with a three run homer to keep the lead at 6-2. Some small ball in the sixth added to the UMD total, and they ended up with 8-4 win.

On Monday the same two teams faced off in another doubleheader. Offense was high powered from the beginning in game one, with 10 runs put up on the board in the first inning. A lead off single for Winona started the playing action, and another single to left field scored the first run of the game. The Warriors also added a three-run homer in the first to make the score 4-0 after a half inning.

UMD came right back, and with a two-run homer by Dahlgren they were within one run just three batters in. A double to center by junior Jake Kluver scored another two runs in the first, another added with an RBI single by freshman Jaime Stokes gave the Dogs the 6-4 lead at the end of the first.

Winona hit a two run home run in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 7-7, but UMD once again answered with an RBI double by Dahlgren getting the game winning run in.

In the second game the Dogs weren't so lucky. Brian Burman hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1. Hoeppner added his own RBI to the mix, retieing the game at 2-2. By the top of the sixth fans were getting restless, so the Warriors ended the game and scored three runs on a RBI double and single taking it 5-2.

This weekend the team will travel to Iowa and play Upper Iowa on May 1 and 2.

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