DICKINSON, N.D. – Minot State University baseball continued to bat the ball around at the Dakota Athletic Conference Tournament.

This time, MSU finished with 12 runs and 14 hits – the third time in as many games – as they staved off elimination with a 12-2 win over Dakota State University Thursday at Southside Park.

The Beavers got going early, scoring three in the bottom of the first inning to jumpstart the offense.

“It's a game we feel we should win, but in tournament play you just never know. So getting off to the good start was real important,” said MSU head coach Brock Weppler. “We have been hitting the ball well all tournament so far.”

Minot moves on to face the winner of the Dickinson State/Valley City State winner in the other loser out game. While MSU is about to play its fourth game in two days and its second straight elimination game, Weppler isn't too concerned about fatigue.

“We play a lot of games like this where we get four in and because of what's on the line, I'm not too concerned,” he said. “Nobody wants to see it end. We will take some time off this afternoon, go back to the motel and rest and get to the park with enough time to get going again.”

MSU's bats haven't stopped. The Beavers got multiple hits from Jordan Gilmour (So., OF, Gatineau, Quebec), Kory Houston (Sr., OF, Minot, N.D.) and Mitch Olson (So., 3B, Deloraine, Manitoba). Houston had four runs batted in while Gilmour finished with three RBIs. In all, MSU had at least one hit from 11 of the 13 players who had an official at bat.

“With the way we are hitting right now, it is good to get as many games and as many at bats as we can,” Weppler said. “The more at bats the better we have hit.”

MSU (15-22 overall) also got its best pitching performance of the tournament as starter Paul Thompson (Sr., P, Pierson, Manitoba) went six strong innings giving up just six hits and two runs while striking out 11 batters.

“Paul threw well. He ate up innings for us which is important because we were able to rest some arms,” Weppler said. “I think we set up pretty good on our pitching staff here on out.”