Of the 6 weekend series scheduled for this weekend in NSIC college baseball, only 4 got played (and 1 of those didn’t get to play all 4 games). With a winter storm moving into North/South Dakota and Minnesota this week it is likely we’ll see additional problems with the schedule for this coming week.
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Minnesota State swept Upper Iowa to improve their winning streak to 10 games and their conference record to 8-0. The Mavericks needed extra innings to win both games on Sunday as they won 3-2 in 8 innings and then 5-4 in 9 innings to seal the sweep. The final winning run was scored as Jay Bresnahan singled to start the inning and Ben Kincaid then laid down a sacrifice bunt. Instead of throwing the ball to first base, the ball ended up down the right field line which allowed Bresnahan to come around with the winning score. Minnesota State plays at Southwest Minnesota State next weekend while Upper Iowa hosts Minnesota Crookston. Mavericks Grind Out Wins Over Peacocks
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The other team at the top of the Conference with an 8-0 record is Wayne State who pounded Minnesota Duluth all weekend to gain a relatively easy sweep. For the weekend, the Wildcats outscored the Bulldogs 42-16. Wayne’s offensive star of the series was sophomore first baseman, Treye Hacker (Sioux City, IA). In 3 games played, Hacker was 7-11 with 7 RBI’s and had a homer, triple and double. Duluth’s losing streak has now reached 12 games (a team record). Next weekend, Concordia is scheduled to play at Wayne State and Minnesota Duluth travels to play St. Cloud State. Wayne State Completes Sweep of Duluth
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Winona State had a perfect start to their conference season as they swept Minnesota Crookston. Although the overall run total (40-12) looks quite lopsided, the Warriors scored the majority of their runs in late innings as 21 of their 40 runs were tallies in either the 6th or 7th inning. These runs broke open what had been tight contests in 3 of the games. Winona’s Ross Hellenbrand moved to 5-0 in game 1 of the series with a 6 inning, 5 hit, 1 run outing. He was also the offensive star in game 4 going 3-4 with a home run and 2 RBI’s. Crookston actually had just as many hits as Winona on Sunday but a combination of 11 walks, 4 hit batters and 5 errors on the day were too much to overcome. Next weekend, Winona hosts Bemidji State and Crookston travels to Upper Iowa. Warriors Complete 4 Game Sweep
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Augustana came back from a 3-2 loss on Saturday at the hands of Bemidji State to sweep the Sunday doubleheader and claim a 2-1 series win. The 4th game of the series was not able to be played and will not be made up. The Augies have now won back to back series and move to 5-2 in Conference play. The Vikings won the final contest by scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to win 7-6. The final blow in that inning came from JaColby Anderson who hit a home run, his 2nd of the series. Bemidji’s lone series win came on Saturday as starting pitcher, Brent Vollbrecht, pitched a complete game giving up only 4 hits and 2 runs while striking out 5. Augustana is the lone conference team not playing next weekend and instead will play a non-conference series at Northwest Missouri State while the Beavers play at Winona State. Augies Win Pair of Close Games
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St. Cloud State’s weekend conference series against the University of Mary was postponed so the Huskies hastily scheduled a doubleheader against D3 Wisconsin – Superior. St. Cloud easily swept Superior with first game starting pitcher David Deminsky taking a perfect game into the 5th inning. St. Cloud hosts Minnesota Duluth next weekend and Mary is scheduled to play at Northern State. Huskies Top Superior 9-0 & 12-3
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Finally, Southwest Minnesota State was scheduled to play at Northern State this weekend. At some point the games were moved to Marshall because of poor field conditions in Aberdeen, SD. It was then decided that Marshall’s field conditions were also too poor to play and the teams couldn’t find a suitable alternative. Therefore, the games were cancelled. This may prove to be a big detriment to the Mustangs conference record as they were expected to sweep the Wolves. SMSU has a much tougher opponent next weekend in Minnesota State while Northern hosts Mary. SMSU Baseball Cancelled
Northern Sun Baseball 
Huskies Crack the PING! Top-20 poll at 28th this week!
Top-30 that is…
Good for SCSU … Great for Team and Great for the NSIC
009 Schedule (subject to date and time changes)
Date Opponent Site Time
Metrodome College Baseball Classic
Feb. 1 Midland Lutheran Metrodome W, 4-3
Feb. 1 Midland Lutheran Metrodome L, 1-0
Feb. 7 University of Wisconsin-Parkside Metrodome W, 8-1
Feb. 7 University of Wisconsin-Parkside Metrodome W, 2-1
Feb. 8 University of Wisconsin-Parkside Metrodome W, 8-4
Feb. 8 University of Wisconsin-Parkside Metrodome W, 13-4
Feb. 13 Missouri Southern State University Joplin, Mo. L, 14-13
Feb. 14 Missouri Southern State University Joplin, Mo. W, 4-1
Feb. 14 Missouri Southern State University Joplin, Mo. L, 8-7
Feb. 15 Missouri Southern State University Joplin, Mo. W, 6-1
Feb. 25 Bemidji State University (Non-Conference) Metrodome L, 4-3
Feb. 25 Bemidji State University (Non-Conference) Metrodome W, 9-6
Feb. 26 Bemidji State University (Non-Conference) Metrodome W, 19-6
Feb. 26 Bemidji State University (Non-Conference) Metrodome W, 4-1
Mar. 7-15 Russ Matt Greater Phoenix Invitational Phoenix, Ariz.
Mar. 7 R.I.T – Snedigar #1 Chandler, Ariz. W, 22-4
Mar. 8 Rockford – Autry #2 Mesa, Ariz . W, 22-0
Mar. 9 Northern State (Non-Conference) – Autry #1 Mesa, Ariz. W, 11-1
Mar. 9 Northern State (Non-Conference) – Autry #1 Mesa, Ariz. W, 5-1
Mar. 11 Malone – Grand Canyon U. Phoenix, Ariz. W, 7-6 (8)
Mar. 11 Malone – Grand Canyon U. Phoenix, Ariz. W, 9-6
Mar. 12 Wheaton – Grand Canyon U. Phoenix, Ariz. L, 5-2
Mar. 14 SUNY-New Paltz – Grand Canyon U. Phoenix, Ariz. W, 19-3
Mar. 14 SUNY-New Paltz – Grand Canyon U. Phoenix, Ariz. W, 9-4
Mar. 15 College of New Jersey – Salt River HS Scottsdale, Ariz. W, 8-1
Mar. 21 University of Minnesota, Crookston* Freeman, S.D. W, 7-5
Mar. 21 University of Minnesota, Crookston* Freeman, S.D. L, 6-5 (12)
Mar. 22 University of Minnesota, Crookston* Freeman, S.D. W, 11-4
Mar. 22 University of Minnesota, Crookston* Freeman, S.D. W, 14-2
Mar. 28 University of Mary* Bismarck, N.D. Cancelled
Mar. 28 University of Mary* Bismarck, N.D. Cancelled
Mar. 29 University of Mary* Bismarck, N.D. Cancelled
Mar. 29 University of Mary* Bismarck, N.D. Cancelled
Mar. 29 UW-Superior (added to schedule on March 25) Minnetonka – Veterans Field W, 9-0
Mar. 29 UW-Superior Minnetonka – Veterans Field W, 12-3
That is great, now tell me who they beat to deserve that.
I am not familiar with all the teams they have played. I also don’t want this to be a knock against them as I have all the respect for Dolan and kids on his team. It is great for them, but I wonder how it will turn out when they play some of the top teams in the NSIC.
MSSU is third right now in a pretty good leauge in the MAIA and the Huskies could have easily swept that series. But yes 10 wins against Non D-II teams certainly has helped the record, and I know that’s been the knock on the Huskies this year thus far.
We’re definitely better in every phase of the game from last year, but it will certainly be interesting to see the results when they play teams like Wayne and MSU and the rest of the NSIC competition.
I guess the loss to Bemidji and Crookston is the surprise to me. With Dolan at he helm for the second year it is no doubt they should be better then last year I am a Augie fan first and a Huskie fan second.
While their schedule is weak you still have to win them on the field. As the Crookston loss shows, no win is guaranteed. We still need a couple more weekends of NSIC games to figure out who’s really going to claim the top spots and deserves the accolades.
A little closer look at a couple of SCSU’s non-DII opponents
Malone is 19-4 and had 40+ wins last year
Wheaton is a legit D-III that is 17-1 and ranked sixth in the latest D-III poll.
The cynic in me would say “yeah, but they lost to Wheaton” 🙂
Unfortunately, with the way Duluth is playing lately this weekend can’t really do much to prove whether St. Cloud is legit.
The only teams to win a conference game they probably were not expected to win was Augustana and Crookston. I was thinking that Augie was one of the teams in the NSIC that did not go to AZ or Fl. They did get to play a game at the Dome. Other then that the trips to Arkansas and Missouri were cold and nasty. A couple of the game temps were around 31 degrees. Does anyone think it is at a disadvantage. I looked at St.Clouds schedule and they played 10 games in the dome and 10 games in AZ. That is 20 out of the 30 games played in good conditions. I think it is a huge advantage. In a week or two things will shape up and we will know who the top 2-3 teams are.
Can’t wait.
The four games in Missouri, the four Crookston games and the two UW-Superior games were all played in around 40-degree weather (albeit Sundays games were on a turf field).
Yes half of the Husky losses have come in these conditions, but, MSSU is a good team (3rd in the MAIA), probably one of the better, if not the best team SCSU has played, and except for two horrid innings the whole series, the Huskies outscored them 31-7.
I don’t think the weather is that big of a deal for most of these teams because most of these kids are from the upper midwest and have played in these conditions to start their seasons THEIR WHOLE LIVES.
With that being said, whether its crappy or perfect out I really don’t think it favors one team over another. There are two teams on the field and both teams have to play in it.