Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 TUCSON, Ariz.– The Minot State University baseball team had an offensive eruption for parts of Tuesday afternoon at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Beavers (4-4 Overall, 0-0 NSIC) had 29 hits in the two nine inning games, including 17 hits in a 10-8 comeback, extra-inning win over Dakota Wesleyan University (7-6 Overall). However, MISU seemed to get content at the plate in game two as they went scoreless in the final five innings as they lost to Briar Cliff University, (4-8 Overall) 6-4.

"Our hitting overall was a lot better; a lot more quality at bats," said Minot State head coach Brock Weppler. "One of our goals all spring has been making at bats count and stressing that someone is going to get the job done and we will pick each other up."

That's exactly what happened it game one, as MISU trailed DWU 5-0 after three innings of play. Minot State starting pitcher Austin Bernston (So., OF/P, Minot, N.D.) was knocked out of the game as a line drive hit his elbow in the third inning. Weppler then turned to his bullpen for the rest of the game.

"Our bullpen did a really nice job in that first game," said Weppler. "We were chipping away at that lead after we dug ourselves in a hole and they did a nice job keeping us in the ball game."

Matthew Davis (Sr., P, Red Deer, Alberta), Jamin Heller (Sr., P, Lethbridge, Alberta), Alec Grothe (So., P, Mandan, N.D.) and Conner Oliver (Sr., OF/P, Dayton, Nev.), were the pitching platoon that appeared against DWU. The four-some surrendered only two earned runs and walked just two batters in 7.1 innings of relief.

Going into the eighth inning, Minot State still trailed by three runs and needed a spark. Nick Hammerl (Jr., Inf., West Peoria, Ill.) started off the inning with a double and later scored on an Andrew Roach (Jr., OF, Gilbert, Ariz.) sacrifice fly to center field. But with two outs and still down, two runs, the job was not finished, and neither were the Beavers.

Connor Moughtin (Jr., C, Victoria, British Columbia) knocked a two-out single, which was followed up as A.J. Begay (Sr., 3B, Salt Lake City, Utah) was hit by a pitch. Tyler Stevenson (Sr., OF, Cheyenne, Wyo.) then tied things up with a double to the left-center gap, scoring both Moughtin and Begay.

Nine innings wasn't enough to decide a winner between Minot State and Dakota Wesleyan, so the teams headed to extra innings. Roach led off the tenth with a double and came around to score on a clutch single up the middle by Begay. Stevenson then continued his hot streak as he knocked a liner to centerfield. DWU's centerfielder dove for the ball but missed as it rolled all the way to the way and Stevenson ran all 360 feet around the bases for an inside the park home run.

It was Stevenson's second straight game with a home run and four runs batted in. He leads the Beavers on the season with eight RBI and two home runs .

Grothe picked up the win for MISU as he went two innings and only allowed one hit. Oliver picked up his first career save to cap off the victory.

"As a team, I was proud of the effort we gave to come back and win," said Weppler.

In game two, the Beavers faced the Chargers from Briar Cliff University and to start, things seemed to be going Minot State's way.

MISU jumped out to a 4-1 lead after four innings as Moughtin and Begay picked up back-to-back RBI singles in the first inning while Hammerl and Oliver picked up back-to-back RBI hits in the fourth inning.

From there on out, Minot State's offense could muster just five hits in five innings with nothing linked together enough to warrant a rally.

"In the second game, I just feel like we got complacent. We still had some hits but we weren't as aggressive and we didn't square up the ball too much. We just got too comfortable out there and we need to learn how to put teams away."

Through seven innings on the mound, Minot State starter Jesse Goertzen (So., P, Steinbach, Manitoba) was exactly what the Beavers needed. After seven, he had allowed just one earned run on seven hits with three strikeouts and no walks.

Then the eighth inning started.

The Charger batters eventually went for five hits in a row of Goertzen, including four RBI hits in a row. Goertzen was tagged with the loss, his first of the season, as MISU fell 6-4.

"Jesse had a good outing," said Weppler. "He didn't walk anybody all day cause he was getting ahead in the count. We asked a lot of him to go back out there for the eighth and in that inning he was behind, working from a 2-0 count a lot and there's a big difference there."

The Beavers will look to get back on track on Wednesday morning as they face a familiar opponent, Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe St. Cloud State. Minot State and Huskies will battle at 11 a.m. (9 a.m. PST) from Kino Sports Complex.