MINOT, N.D. (March 28, 2015) – On the first day of this weekend's four-game series against Southwest Minnesota State, the Minot State baseball team walked away with one win and one loss Saturday afternoon.

In game one of the double-header, Minot State received a stellar performance on the mound from Joshua Larsen (Sr., P, Surrey, British Columbia) who threw a complete game giving up just two earned runs on five hits while striking out six batters. Larsen recorded his first win of the season in the Beavers' 4-3 win.

"Josh threw well and threw with confidence," Minot State head baseball coach Brock Weppler said. "He attacked the hitters and executed pitchers. I thought he did a really good job and he's been getting better and better every game. I think his confidence is increasing."

The Beavers got themselves off to a strong start from the get-go as Jared Young (Fr., P/INF, Prince George, British Columbia) and Jordan Schulz (So., OF, Strasbourg, Saskatchewan) each scored in the first inning giving Minot State a 2-0 lead.

SMSU fought its way back into the game over the course of the next two innings as they added two runs in the second on an RBI double from Cole VanderBeek and eventually took the lead on an RBI single in the bottom of the third.

The Mustangs' lead didn't last long, though, as Jesse Goertzen doubled to left field in the fourth and eventually got around to score on a wild pitch.

Austin Berntson (Jr., OF/P, Minot, N.D.) came through with his second RBI of the day with a single up the middle scoring Schulz and giving Minot State the final run it would need to take game one.

"Defensively I thought we played very well," Weppler said. "You can tell the guys are getting more confident especially a guy like Brad Rolff and Jared (Young)."

In the second game of the day, Austin Zorn (Sr., P/INF, Bismarck, N.D.) recorded his fourth quality start of the season giving up two earned runs on six hits through seven innings, but SMSU's Mitch Wurm outlasted Zorn tossing a complete game shutout as the Mustangs dropped the Beavers 3-0.

"Seems like I say it time and time again—Zorn was Zorn," Weppler said. "He comes out and gives up two or three runs and gives you a chance to win a ball game. You know you're going to get that every time he's out on the mound and that's all you can ask of a starting pitcher."

Minot State didn't put more than one runner on the basepath at a time until the ninth inning when Berntson walked and Goertzen singled through the left side with two outs, but Wurm ultimately recorded the final out of the game as Trevor Gust (Sr., C, Minot, N.D.) flew out to right field.

The Mustangs recorded one run in the first, fourth and fifth innings, respectively.

Berntson led the Beavers offensively Saturday afternoon recording two hits in each game and ending his day 4-for-6 with two RBIs. Goertzen also recorded a two-hit game for the Beavers in game one.

With the day's results, Minot State moves to 5-12 overall and 2-4 in the NSIC. SMSU heads into Sunday's double-header with an overall record of 8-10 and a conference record of 1-1.

The two team's will close out the series tomorrow afternoon with game three set to begin at noon and game four to follow in Marshall, Minn.