MESA, Ariz. – Minot State University baseball coach Brock Weppler hoped his team could get through the first day on adrenaline.

The Beavers ended up getting through about five innings.

MSU had troubles with its bus on the way down to Arizona, getting into Mesa about 10 hours later than they were scheduled to. Once on the field, MSU had almost as much trouble with NCAA Division II Bemidji State as Minot State fell twice to start the Russ Matt Greater Phoenix Invitational Friday.

“We are not letting the kids use it as an excuse,” said MSU head coach Brock Weppler about the short night before the first game. “But having the bus break down and spending about 10 more hours to get here took its toll on us.”

The teams battled back and forth in game 1 before BSU pulled away with an eight-run sixth for a 12-4 win. In game 2, MSU never got its bats going, losing 7-0. Minot dropped to 0-6 on the season – all against NCAA Division II teams, while Bemidji State improved to 4-3 with the pair of wins.

“We feel we are a better team than what we showed today,” Weppler said. “For four innings, we played pretty well, but in the sixth, the wheels came off. We told the guys that this is unacceptable. We need to get some positive things going. Things snowballed on us a little today, but if we can get a couple wins, we can get something going.”

MSU battled back to take a 3-2 lead after four innings. But Bemidji scored two in the top of the fifth and then eight in the sixth after the Beavers tied the game at 4. Tanner Lorenz (Sr., P, Harvey, N.D.) pitched better Friday than he did in his first outing, but suffered the loss after going five innings, giving up six hits and seven runs, but just five earned. He walked five and struck out five.

“Tanner threw pretty well overall, but we didn't make the plays behind him and then has some stupid things happen. Things did go our way in the sixth,” Weppler said.

Jordan Gilmour (So., OF, Gatineau, Quebec) and Connor Moughtin (Fr., C, Victoria, British Columbia) each had two hits and Ryne Hornecker (Jr., SS, Minot, N.D.), Andrew Lochhead (Jr., OF, Reston, Manitoba), Alex Fornshell (Fr., 2B, Minot, N.D.) and Kory Houston (Sr., OF, Minot, N.D.) all went 1-for-3 at the plate. Moughtin, Fornshell, Gilmour and Scott Peters () finished with runs batted in.

“Conner had a heck of a game at the plate again for us,” Weppler said. “Hornecker and Gilmour hit all right, but we have a couple of key guys who aren't getting it done at the plate. We will need to shore things up at the plate.”

In game 2, MSU never got going offensively. Minot had just three hits as Hornecker, Jaret Chatwood (Sr., C/Util., Red Deer, Alberta) and Lee Lorendorf (Sr., 1B, Wolf Point, Mont.) all collected one single.

On the hill, Paul Thompson (Jr., P, Pierson, Manitoba) racked up six strikeouts in three innings pitched, but walked four and gave up six runs.

“Paul didn't spot the ball very well. He had a lot of strikeouts, but had too many walks and we never got anything going on the offensive end,” Weppler said.

MSU plays two tough NAIA opponents Saturday, taking on Northwestern College (Iowa) and Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) at Noon and 2:30 p.m. respectively.