Will Hoernemann pitched 8 strong innings to get the win in the opener, striking out four batters, walking four, allowing four hits and two runs.  Justin Dykhoff pitched the ninth inning to pick up the save, striking out one batter.  M State struck for two first inning runs as Kyle Doup led off with a walk and scored on a double by Dane Schwirtz.  Schwirtz moved up to third base on a ground out by Dykhoff and scored the second run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Wyatt Hamann.  The Spartans increased their lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Dykhoff doubled leading off the inning and scored on a base hit by Ty Kargar.  Kargar led the Spartans by going 2-for-4 at the plate.

St. Cloud took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of game two, added single runs in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, and then scored three in the eighth to secure the win.

M State got their first two runs in the fourth when Hamann drew a one-out walk and Austin Oetter launched a two-run home run.  The Spartans went on to load the bases with one out, but failed to score any more runs in the inning.  Schwirtz led off the fifth with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hamann and the final run came in the seventh when Schwirtz delivered a two-out single, moved up on a base hit by Dyhkoff and scored on Hamann’s single.  Schwirtz led M State with 3 hits in 5 at bats.  Dykhoff and Kargar each had two hits in the game.

The Spartans will face Vermilion in an elimination game at two o’clock Saturday afternoon.  If they win they will play the loser of the Rochester vs. St. Cloud game at 5:00pm.