MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – It came right down to the final pitch in both games, but the Parkside baseball team dropped both games (9-8, 1-0) of a doubleheader to No. 19 St. Cloud State on Wednesday afternoon in U.S. Bank Stadium, home stadium of the Minnesota Vikings.
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In game one, the Huskies needed a walkoff three-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning to comeback and beat the Rangers in extra innings. Game two ended on a deep fly ball to left center field as the Rangers had the tying run on third and the winning run at first base.
The first game went scoreless for the first two innings until
Kyle Schulz hit a sacrifice fly to left field that scored
Hunter Weddel, who came in unearned after a Husky error. SCSU took the lead on back-to-back RBI singles in the bottom of the third, making it 2-1.
Parkside didn't stay down long, as
Lovell Chandler hit a clutch two-out double left field line to plate
Domenic Hammudeh and
Max Widmar and Weddel followed that with an RBI single, making it 4-2 Rangers.
The teams traded runs in the bottom of the fourth and the top of the fifth, as St. Cloud made it 4-3 in the fourth but a wild pitch that scored Schulz put Parkside back up 5-3.
The Huskies got a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth to tie it up at 5-5. Both teams went scoreless in the seventh and the Green & White jumped back on top in the top of the eighth off a big two-run single by
Justin Bennett and a sacrifice fly by
Cole Vento, making it 8-5 Parkside.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Huskies got a leadoff double and a single and eventually loaded the bases with two outs while they were trailing 8-6. After a controversial walk, the Huskies got the walkoff three-run double to steal the game from the Rangers.
In game two,
Nicholas Rana was dealing, as the redshirt junior went all 7.0 innings allowing just three hits and one run, which was unearned. The only run of the game came in the top of the sixth inning that started with a Ranger error.
The Huskies got a great game on the mound from Kyle Boser, who tossed a complete game shutout allowing four hits that were scattered.
After both games on Wednesday, Weddel led the Rangers at the plate going 4-for-7 while Widmar went 2-for-5 with two runs, a double and a pair of walks and Hammudeh went 2-for-6 with a double and two runs. Chandler had the big two-run double and Bennett had a nice two-run single.
The Rangers have a busy weekend in front of them, as they head to Purdue Northwest on March 3 and 4 for back-to-back doubleheaders.
