MINOT, N.D. – After a mid-week sweep at Bemidji State just three days ago, the Minot State baseball team hoped to carry its momentum into the weekend series against Northern State. The Wolves' bats didn't allow that to happen.

Despite Minot State belting eight home runs of its own, four courtesy of Jordan Schulz (So., OF, Strasbourg, Saskatchewan), the NSU power proved to be too much as the Wolves took game one 20-8 and game two 16-10.

"We didn't throw with confidence," MSU head coach Brock Weppler said. "We left the ball up in the zone. You've got to get the ball down—you've got to throw with confidence. We've talked over and over with our pitchers about being confident."

Early on in game one, it looked as if the Beavers' winning ways and hot bats would carry them to their third straight win. Paul Vogelsang (So., C, Regina, Saskatchewan) put an exclamation point on the first inning with a grand slam as the Beavers crossed home plate six times and ended the inning with a 6-1 lead.

NSU continued to chip away, though, taking its first lead of the game in the fourth inning and it never trailed the rest of the way. An eight-run sixth inning from the Wolves put the game out of reach for Minot State.

Game two started off all Northern State as the Wolves built an 8-1 lead after three innings.

Tacking on three more runs in the top of the sixth inning, NSU looked to have a day one sweep locked up, but the Beavers made things interesting in the bottom half of the sixth.

Minot State sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, scoring eight runs on four home runs. Kyle Williamson (Fr., OF, Aurora, Ore.) lead-off the inning with a home run and hit his second home run of the inning with a two-out grand slam. The grand slam was his second of the season and his fifth home run this season.

The Beavers' rally fell short, though, as MSU managed to score just one run the rest of the way compared to five more runs for the Wolves.

Schulz accounted for the lone MSU run in the seventh as he drilled his third home run of the game and 11th of the season.

As the regular season begins to wind down, Weppler said tomorrow's games against NSU beginning at noon are very important.

"It's getting down to it—it's getting down to that time of the year," he said. "We've got to focus on game one, the old adage, then game two, but yeah, it's that time of year and out backs are against the wall."