TUCSON, Ariz. – Despite getting down 3-0 early, the Minot State baseball team battled back against Dakota State and pulled out an 8-5 victory Saturday afternoon at the Tucson Invitational.

Mark LaCroix (Jr., P, Bottineau, N.D.) shut down DSU when he came into the game in the middle of the third inning proceeding to pitch five straight scoreless inning before giving up two runs in the ninth.

"Good pitching is going to bring confidence," Minot State head coach Brock Weppler said. "It's easy when pitchers are going out there and shutting down the other team inning after inning. You're going to feel good about it."

The Beavers chipped away at the lead in the middle innings of the game before finally breaking through and taking the lead for good in the seventh as Jesse Goertzen (Jr., 1B/P, Steinbach, Manitoba) put a ball in play and Brad Rolff (Sr., INF, North Folk, Calif.) touched home making the game 4-3.

The Beavers added four insurance runs in the eighth inning as both Nicholas Hammerl (Sr, 2B/SS, West Peoria, Ill.) and Jared Young (Fr., UTL/P, Prince George, British Columbia)  recorded RBI singles. Goertzen and Austin Berntson (Jr., OF/P, Minot, N.D.) both drew walks to bring in two more runs.

Doug Rolfson (Jr., P, Watford City, N.D.) came into the game to record the final out replacing LaCroix.

LaCroix ended his day tossing six innings, giving up four hits and striking out seven batters.

"I was just trying to get ahead in the count and throw first pitch strikes," LaCroix said. "Don't let the batter have the advantage at the plate and just get ahead pretty much."

Leading the way for the Beavers offensively was Kyle Williamson (Fr., OF, Aurora, Ore.) who ended the day with four hits. Rolff added three hits for the Beavers and Hammerl added two, while four other Beavers recorded hits in the game.

With the win, Minot State improves to 3-6 on the season and 3-3 at the Tucson Invitational.

The Beavers wrap up the Tucson Invitational tomorrow with a double header against NSIC opponents. The first game of the day is set for 9 a.m. against Concordia St. Paul and the second game of the double header is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. against 14-0 St. Cloud State.