ST. GEORGE, UTAH – The Minot State University baseball team earned its first win of the season with a 26-8 victory over Saint Martin's. Led by the pitching of Lane Biggs and a 13-run fourth inning the Beavers came out on top in their seventh game of the year.
 
Biggs (So., Salem, Ore.) gave up just three earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched to be awarded his first win of the season. Now with a 1-1 record he has a team-best 5.73 era in 11 innings pitched.
 
All the bats for the Beavers were hot in the win with everyone who made more than one plate appearance recording a hit. Kyle Williamson (OF, So., Aurora, Ore.) filled up the stat sheet with three hits and five RBIs while scoring four runs.
 
Celestino Rodriguez (1B, Fr., Crystal Lake, Ill.) capped off the big inning for the team with a three-run homer to bring in the 11th, 12th and 13th runs in the bottom of the fourth. Rodriguez and Williamson were two of five Beavers to hit in three or more runners.

"We hit well, we did a good job there," said head coach Brock Weppler. "We did a better job with momentum. Biggs battled on the mound. He didn't have his change up going today, which is his best pitch. He essentially pitched without it, but that was a good thing because you're not going to always have all your pitches."
 
In the second game of the day Minot State held a 12-10 lead going into the final inning. Saint Martin's showed up in a big way, scoring seven runs, including a grand slam to win the game 17-12.
 
Jordan Schulz (OF, Jr., Strasbourg, Saskatchewan) and Keith Ailes (DH, Sr., Bozeman, Mont.) both hit three-run shots in the first inning to put the Beavers up 6-0 early. It was the first of two three-run home runs Ailes hit on the day with the second coming in the fourth inning. Schulz and Ailes led the team with six total RBIs in the two games played.
 
Alec Grothe (P, Sr., Bismarck, N.D.) made relief appearances in both games totaling 2.1 innings pitched. Grothe struck out two batters and gave up zero runs on the day.

"Our pitchers are going to get better," Weppler said. "We just have to trust it and keep working to continue to climb that ladder. I think we'll do that. We had guys put into high intensity situations today and you can try and do what you can on the mound but being in those situations in a game is something you can't replicate in practice. We just have to get out there and do it.

"We can take a lot away from this trip. We have a lot of different pieces and guys showed up today subbing in as batters. That's what this team is going to be this season. I think we took a good stride there with those pieces and now we just have to keep getting better."
 
Minot State will play again in the Tucson Invitational in Arizona on March 16 against Northern State University in a nonconference game at 11 a.m.
 
About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.