Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State second baseman Jared Cortez (15) celebrates as he runs down the third baseline toward teammates Levi Lampert (7) and Caleb Gardow during the first game of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference mens baseball doubleheader against Minot State on Thursday at Milroy Yankee Field. The Mustangs swept the Beavers, picking up a 20-7 win in the first game and a seven-inning 11-1 win in the second.

MILROY — The Southwest Minnesota State Univeristy baseball team’s Thursday doubleheader against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe Minot State was relocated from North Dakota to Milroy due to weather, but the Mustangs looked right at home at Yankee Field. The Mustangs’ season-high for single-game hits was 15 heading into the doubleheader, but the Mustangs surpassed that mark with 17 hits in a 20-7 win in the seven-inning opener, and tied it in their 11-1 win in the rematch.

“It’s electric when you see guys one through nine get hits,” SMSU right fielder Levi Lampert said. “It gets electric in the dugout. We’ve just got to keep this energy.

True freshman Jameson Quinn also threw a complete game to stave off the Beaver bats in the second game of the day, striking out six batters in the process.

“It’s just kind of a lot of adrenaline,” Quinn said when asked what he was feeling out on the hill. “Just knowing that I’ve got all those hitters that are putting up so many runs, it’s hard to stay locked in and thinking. I mean, they’re putting up 10 [runs] a game, it’s hard because I expect so much of them because they do so well. But it’s fun when you have so many guys putting runs on the board.”

Now 14-7 (9-5 NSIC) on the season, the Mustangs will return to action against Minot State (12-10, 7-7 NSIC) today when they host them for another doubleheader at Yankee Field. The games are slated to begin at noon.

GAME 1

Minot State 7

The Mustangs trailed by a run after the first inning but strung together a series of big hits in the second to take a commanding lead with a six-run inning.

SMSU took the lead when Jared Cortez hit a grand slam deep over the left-field fence to make the score 5-1.

Prior to the go-ahead homer, Henry Hammrich and Caleb Gardow singled to put two runners on with one out and Owen Latendresse laid down a suicide squeeze that just barely stayed on the basepaths to drive in Hammrich for the tying run. Lampert then singled to load up the bases for Cortez.

Evan Behn added one last run for the Mustangs in the frame by hitting a solo shot to right field to make the score 6-1.

The Mustangs left two runners stranded in the top of the first and Minot State capitalized with a go-ahead run in the bottom of the frame, coming on a Connor Hill solo home run down the right-field line.

Minot State came back within striking distance in the bottom of the second. Grant Gabbert doubled to right-center field to put a runner in scoring position with two outs, and Jake Orthner singled up the middle to score Gabbert. From there, Seugjun Song sent a fly ball that eked over the right-field wall for a home run to trim SMSU’s lead down to 6-4.

Griffin Shearon was tagged for six earned runs over two innings in his start for the Beavers. He surrendered eight hits — including a pair of home runs — and five walks while striking out three batters in the game.

In the third inning, SMSU continued to pad its lead. A Gardow walk and a Latendresse single put two runners on when Minot State pulled Shearon for Ian Bauer. A long Lampert fly out to the centerfield wall allowed Gardow to get on over to third base, and a Cortez bunt scored Gardow.

Bauer went to the ground after sustaining an apparent upper-body injury attempting to field Cortez’s bunt. He was unable to return to the game and the Mustang rally continued against Joshua Czyz.

Cory Bantam then singled in Latendresse and an errant pick-off attempt allowed Cortez to score for a 9-4 Mustang advantage through the top of the third.

Command issues plagued SMSU starting pitcher Ryan Chmielewski in the bottom of the third. He hit the leadoff batter and, after getting a runner out at second on a fielder’s choice, walked three consecutive batters to force in a run before being pulled for Bennett Knapper. The Mustangs got out of the jam when Knapper struck out the first batter he faced and then fielded a weak grounder to get the out at first.

Knapper earned his second career win as a Mustang and first of the season with the result. He went on to pitch 2 1/3 innings, allowing two unearned runs on three hits with a strikeout.

Chmielewski finished his no-decision outing with five earned runs allowed on five hits and three walks over 2 1/3 innings with three punchouts. Austin Dent also threw two scoreless innings of relief for the Mustangs, allowing two hits and three walks, while Vinny Mauro retired the lone batter he faced to finish off the game.

Gardow smacked a solo shot over the left field wall in the fourth inning for his first home run of the season. The rally continued when Owen Latendresse hit a ball down the right-field line that bounced out of the glove of a leaping Hill, putting Latendresse on second with one out. Levi Lampert then hit a hard single to drive in Latendresse, and Gabbert overran the fly ball Bantam hit to left field to allow Lampert to score for a 12-5 Mustang lead.

Lampert finished the game with a team-high three hits in four at-bats. His four RBIs were also second only to Cortez’s six. Latendresse, batting ninth in the order, led the Mustangs with five runs scored on the day with two hits and a walk.

“[Minot State] has good arms, but we have guys who see pitches. They come back to the dugout and let you know what they see, so you kind of have a good scouting report for when you go up there,” Lampert said. “When you have the kind of team we have that gives you scouting reports, it gives you a better chance for success.”

Tyler Froland replaced Bantam at first base to start the fourth inning and promptly committed an error, putting Minot State’s Nate Madas on second base.

A pair of fielder’s choices, including a good read by Knapper to get out an unforced out at home on the latter of the plays, put two down. Yet, a pair of throwing errors by Knapper and Lampert in right field allowed Oscar Pegg to drive in Brent Riddle, and Michael Williamson singled to drive in Pegg, making it a 12-7 game.

The Mustangs tagged on six runs in the sixth inning. Bryce Woitalla scored on a balk, Hammrich and Gardow scored when Lampert and Cortez were hit by a pitch and walked with the bases loaded, Froland hit a two-run double and Cortez scored on a wild pitch.

SMSU added in one last insurance run in the seventh when Lampert hit a two-run shot to right field to make the score 20-7.

Game 2 (7 inn.)

Minot State 1

Jameson Quinn improved to 3-1 on the season with a seven-inning complete game for the Mustangs. The true freshman surrendered two hits, four hits and one run in the effort while striking out six batters.

“It’s mostly just playing my game and trusting my catcher [Gardow],” Quinn said. “I’m not the one out there calling pitches, he is. He’s the one who’s studied… he knows exactly what he’s doing, he tells me to throw line this, I’ll be like, ‘Okay,’ and then it works. So it’s not really about what I’m noticing, it’s what they’re noticing for me and I just try and do my job.”

The Mustangs’ veteran leadership has been key for Quinn’s ability to go out and execute, Quinn said, citing Chmielewski as one of the teammates who has used his four-year experience as a starter to show Quinn the ropes.

Any offensive momentum the Mustangs built up in the doubleheader opener carried right on over to their second game against the Beavers on Thursday. An RBI double from Bantam, a three-run homer from Behn and a solo shot from Latendresse gave the Mustangs a 5-0 lead after the game’s first half-inning, and they never looked back.

SMSU further padded its lead with a four-run third inning. Carter Lang led off the inning with a solo shot to left field on the inning’s first pitch and Bryce Woitalla was hit by a pitch and scored on a pair of wild pitches.

Henry Hammrich kept the rally going by drawing a four-pitch walk, stealing second and advancing to third on the fourth wild pitch of the inning. Levi Lampert then went yard for a two-run shot to right field, his second home run of the day, before Minot State put Gage Eastlick on the mound for Jacob Thompson to get the final out of the frame.

Thompson falls to 4-1 on the season with the loss after allowing nine earned runs on eight hits and a walk over 2 2/3 innings. He struck out six batters in the game.

Lampert and Latendresse each rached up three hits and a pair of RBIs in four at-bats in the second game. Lampert also had a walk and three runs in the effort while Behn drove in a game-high three RBIs on two hits and a walk.

Among Latendresse’s hits was an RBI single in the sixth inning to score Behn. The hit gave SMSU a 10-run advantage, triggering the run rule in the seventh inning.

Minot State’s lone run of the game came in the third, when Pegg grounded out to short to drive in Hill.