Winona State University baseball emerged victorious from their double-header against the University of Minnesota-Crookston.

The clanking of bats and the cheer of the crowd filed the air at Maxwell-Loughrey field Saturday, April 2 as the Warriors faced off against the Golden Eagles.

The Warriors dominated the first game of the day with 18 runs scored against Crookston’s two. Previously 10 and 5 going into the game, the Warriors were riding a five-game winning streak. Winona State’s Head Coach Kyle Poock said the Warriors haven’t struggled against the Golden Eagles.

“Right now, they're 0 and 10 and they haven't been playing very well lately,” said Poock. “It may be a chance for us to get some guys in who haven’t had a lot of innings.” 

In the first game, the Warriors started out strong, scoring three runs in the first inning alone. Pitcher and infielder Derek Wojcik was the first player on base for the Warriors, given a walk after being hit by a pitch while at bat.

Wojcik scored the first run of the game when Warrior’s third baseman Jared Anderson hit the ball out of the park for the first homerun of the game. As the game progressed, the Warriors continued their momentum, scoring a total of eight runs in the third inning.

During the game, the Golden Eagles were barley at the plate to bat. In the second inning, all three of the Golden Eagles batters stuck out. In the fifth inning, Crookston was able to keep the Warriors from scoring for the first time in the game. 

It wasn’t until the sixth inning of the game that Crookston was able to score its only two runs of the game, by Golden Eagle catcher Charlie Pelzer and Golden Eagle first basemen Chris Ciatti.

The Golden Eagles’ Head Coach Chris Vito, was nearly silent for a majority of the game. In the bottom of the third inning, he erupted at umpires after the first baseman failed to catch the ball, allowing the Warrior batter to get on base.

“That was a foul ball,” screamed Vito.

Despite the protest, the game ended at the bottom of the seventh inning after Crookston failed to score any runs, marking a final victory for WSU, 18-2.

“Right now, we're winning two out of every three games,” said Poock. “That puts us in a pretty good situation if we can continue that all year long.”

In the second game of the day’s double-header, Crookston was still unable to pull off a victory or even a run, with WSU winning 10-0.

Now 12 and 5, the Warriors are scheduled to face upper Iowa April, 6, in Fayette, Iowa. More information about Warrior athletics is available at http://www.winonastatewarriors.com/index.aspx.