Article written by Joesph Erickson 

St. Cloud State Baseball (25-10, 16-4 NSIC) extends their win streak to double digits after an impressive sweep of Northern State (12-17, 7-9 NSIC) in Aberdeen, SD Thursday afternoon. The Huskies got the job done on both sides of the ball in each of their wins, game one saw a performance for the ages by redshirt freshman Luke Tupy and game two was an offense explosion for a season high 19 hits to run rule the Wolves in seven innings for a double header sweep.

Game One: Huskies 3, Wolves 0

This game was a head-to-head matchup of both teams best on the bump between Max Otto and Tupy (CG, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 15 K’s). No one was going to out duel Tupy in his sixth start of the season, putting together one of the best pitching performances we have ever seen by a Husky. A perfect game from the southpaw was the first ever under the Dolan era to go along with 15 strikeouts which puts him second all-time in program history for most strikeouts in a game. 

The run support came via RBI singles for St. Cloud State, in the bottom of the third redshirt sophomore John Nett (1-for-3, R, RBI) and redshirt junior Sam Riola (1-for-3, RBI) gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead. Insurance came in the sixth inning courtesy of redshirt sophomore Drew Bulson (1-for-3, RBI) driving in redshirt sophomore Tate Wallat (3-for-3, R) who had the only muti-hit performance for the Huskies with his three singles. A perfect game and 3-0 win were a special way to start the double header.   

Game Two: Huskies 16, Peacocks 6

The bats woke up for both sides in the finale Thursday afternoon and it was St. Cloud State who jumped out to an 11-0 lead. In the first inning, the Huskies scored six runs on five hits to open the contest. Senior Paul Steffensen (1-for-5, R, 2 RBI) started the scoring with a two RBI single to left, sophomore Tyler Schiller (1-for-3, 3 R, RBI, BB) reached via a fielder’s choice bringing another run home. The inning was capped off with true freshman Ethan Navratil (2-for-4, 2 R, 4 RBI) plating two with a single and a sacrifice fly from senior Max Gamm (2-for-4, R, 3 RBI). 

After three innings St. Cloud State had a comfortable 11 run lead, but Northern State would not go down without a fight. The Wolves were able to cut the Huskies lead down to five as they began to string together hits in the middle innings. St. Cloud would finally respond with a run in the bottom of the sixth off a Wallat single (3-for-5, 2 R, RBI) who finished with six hits between the two games. A four spot from SCSU in the seventh finished off the Wolves when Nett (4-for-6, 2 R, 2 RBI, SB) singled putting the run rule in effect. True freshman Ethan Lanthier (2.1, H, 0 R, BB, 3 K’s) won his staff leading fifth of the season in a 16-6 seven inning game two. 

 

UP NEXT 

Now on a 10-game winning streak St. Cloud State will come back home to Joe Faber Field for a weekend series against the Bemidji State Beavers. The Huskies are set to play a double header on Saturday with the finale on Sunday to wrap up the series. Game times are still TBD, stay up to date by checking the SCSU Baseball schedule page.