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Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Thursday, April 24, 2008

College roundup: WSU drops pair to Wayne State

By staff and news services

WAYNE, Neb. — No. 18 Wayne State (Neb.) swept Winona State University’s baseball team 9-3 and 11-5 Wednesday in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex.

With the sweep, the Wildcats (33-7, 19-3) maintained their lead in the NSIC, while the Warriors (19-14, 14-10) slipped to fourth in the conference and had a four-game winning streak snapped.

WSC was led by junior center fielder Sean Soderberg’s 6-for-7 performance on the day.

Soderberg went 3-for-4 and senior right-hander Nick Schumacher pitched a complete game to lead WSC in Game 1.

The Wildcats scored in five of six innings and roughed up Warriors ace and NSIC earned run average leader Ross Hellenbrand.

Hellenbrand was lifted after 41/3 innings and was charged with 12 hits and seven runs.

WSU senior Brett Maxwell went 2-for-3, while Mike Wendland, Ben Smothers and Jamie Soyk drove in the Warriors’ runs.

In Game 2, the Wildcats pulled away from a 3-3 fourth-inning tie with four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to complete the sweep.

Soderberg went 3-for-3 and reached base in all five at-bats.

The Warriors opened the game with two runs in the top of the first, but relinquished the lead by the bottom of the second and saw things fully unravel in the fifth and sixth.

WSU sophomore catcher Kyle Collins went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Maxwell went 1-for-3 with a stolen base, run and an RBI.

Men’s golf

NSIC triangular

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Winona State won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference triangular at the Rochester Country Club, shooting five strokes better than second-place Upper Iowa with a team total of 316.

Ross Wilhelm shot 75 at the par-70 course to take medalist honors for WSU.

Upper Iowa (321) took second followed by Concordia-St. Paul (330).

Brady Strangstalien shot 79 for WSU, while Kevin Loeffler and John Anderson each shot 81 and Keegan Drugan 84.

It was WSU’s last meet before the regional tournament May 5-7 in Ohio.

“We have a lot of work to do in the next 12 days,” WSU coach Robert Newberry said. “We have to be under 300 to compete for the regional championship.”

Softball

Saint Mary’s 5-9, Macalester 4-10

ST. PAUL — The Cardinals rallied in the opener, then watched Macalester steal a win in similar fashion in the nightcap.

Cassie Otte and Hannah Schmitt each went 2-for-4 to lead the Cardinals in the opener. SMU trailed 4-3 going into its last at-bats in the seventh and rallied for two runs to go up for good.

Otte led-off the seventh with a triple and scored the tying run on an RBI fielder’s choice from Danielle Geske. Katy Gannon scored the go-ahead run later in the inning on a Macalester error.

Otte went 3-for-4 with two runs and Geske 4-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs in Game 2, but the Cardinals squandered a 7-2 lead as Macalester charged back with eight runs in the final three innings.

Geske had two doubles and a triple, Gannon went 1-for-3 with two runs and Kellie Simons went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.

The split complicates SMU’s chances of earning a berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament. With four conference games remaining, SMU is one of six teams still battling for the four possible spots in the MIAC Tournament.

“We certainly put ourselves behind the eight ball,” SMU coach Jen Miller said. “We controlled our own destiny when it came to the MIAC Tournament, and now we’ve made things that much tougher on ourselves.”