MINNEAPOLIS – The Southwest Minnesota State baseball team returned to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play over the weekend with a four-game series against St. Cloud State. The Mustangs led each of Saturday’s games before falling by scores of 9-2 and 6-3, and salvaged a Sunday split with a 5-0 win and 5-4 loss.

In Saturday’s opener, SMSU scored a pair of runs in the first inning with Levi Lampert starting the game with a double and scoring on a Cory Bantam ground out. Tyler Froland stepped to the plate and followed with a solo home run to make the score 2-0.

SCSU answered in a big way off SMSU starting pitcher Ryan Chmielewski, with a three-run home run in the home half of the first and then scoring three runs on four hits in the second to build a 6-2 advantage.

Chmielewski (2-1) would battle his way until the sixth inning when the Huskies plated three runs to expand the lead to 9-2. Chmielewski finished the night tossing 5 1/3 innings, while allowing eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits with five walks and one strikeout.

The Mustangs were limited to four hits in the game with Bantam and Nathan Wheeler collecting one hit each along with Lampert and Froland.

In Saturday’s nightcap, SMSU once again recorded a multi-run top of the first inning with Bantam delivering an RBI double to score Henry Hammrich, before Froland blasted a two-run home run to left field to give the Mustangs a 3-0 lead.

SCSU would score one in the first and another in the fourth, before taking advantage of a Mustang error to score four runs on three hits in the fifth inning. The Huskies tied the game with a sac fly and then scored two runs on a two-out fielding error and pushed across another on a wild pitch to take a 6-3 lead.

Jameson Quinn (1-1) suffered the loss firing the first 4 2/3 innings and allowing six runs (three earned) on five hits with four strikeouts, two hit by pitches and one walk.

In Sunday’s win, Petron fired six shutout innings with eight strikeouts, while Tyler Froland belted his team-leading fifth home run of the season in a 5-0 victory in game one, but SCSU held off an SMSU rally in game two to earn a 5-4 victory.

Petron (2-1), who was coming off a start in which he walked seven and hit two batters, was dominate on Sunday, allowing just three hits and one walk. Cameron Jensen pitched a perfect seventh inning to secure the victory.

SMSU pushed across a single run in each of the first three innings to give Petron plenty of support. Froland drove in the first run of the game with a fielder’s choice to score Levi Lampert in the top of the first. In the second, Jared Cortez singled to open the frame and later scored on a sac fly by Brock Woitalla. Froland would push the lead to 3-0 in the third with a two-out solo home run.

Woitalla opened the fifth inning with a single and moved to third moments later on a double by Lampert. Henry Hammrich followed with a sac fly to score Woitalla and give the Mustangs a 4-0 advantage.

SMSU added another run in the sixth with Owen Latendresse reaching on a one-out double and scoring on an RBI single by Brady Petron.

In game two, five SCSU pitchers combined to strikeout 15 Mustangs, while stranding 13 on base.

The Huskies opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a leadoff home run. The Mustangs tied the game in the second with Latendresse collecting a leadoff single and eventually scoring on a sac fly from Woitalla.

The score remained 1-1 until the fourth when SCSU belted a one-out, two-run home run to left-centerfield to make the score 3-1. SMSU picked up a run in the fifth with Lampert starting the rally with a walk and later scoring on a two-out balk.

Leading 3-2, SCSU pushed across two more in the fifth to chase SMSU starter Shay Endres and build a 5-2 advantage.

SMSU will return to action next weekend with a four-game series scheduled for Legion Field in Marshall on Saturday and Sunday.