Wayne State came away wtih a split with Northern State Saturday evening in Northern Sun Conference baseball action at Aberdeen, S.D.
In the opener, the Wolves cruised to a 9-1 win and were up 4-0 in the nightcap before the Wildcats rallied for a 7-5 win.
Northern scored five in the first, one in the third and three more in the sixth in the opener, while the Wildcats lone run was scored in the fifth on a Jackson Petersen single that scored Bodie Cooper.
Petersen, Tandon Dorn and Tanner Simons each singled for the three Wildcat hits in the contest. Bobby St. Pierre (4-4) suffered the pitching loss, charged with nine runs on 10 hits over six innings with five strikeouts and three walks.
In the nightcap, the Wildcats came back from a four-run deficit, but had to hold off a bases-loaded threat by the Wolves in the ninth to hang on for the win.
Northern State scored twice in the first and second innings for a 4-0 lead. Wayne State got on the board in the fifth on a Jackson Petersen two-run homer to trim the Wolves’ lead to 4-2.
After Northern scored in the fifth to make it 5-2, the Wildcats came up with two runs in the sixth to make the score 5-4. using three Northern errors and a Kyle Thompson single to cut the lead to one.
The Wildcats took the lead for good in the seventh with three runs. David Janes had an RBI single and Peyton Barnes came through with the go-ahead two-run single that gave the Wildcats a 7-5 lead. Northern loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but Kyle Kennebeck got out of the bases-loaded jam with a strikeout to end the game.
Janes was a perfect 3-for-3 while Petersen finished 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBI to lead an 11-hit attack. Cody Jenkins was 2-for-4 and scored two runs. Keenan Breen (6-0) recorded the win in relief, working 2 2/3 innings of one-hit relief with one walk and one strikeout. Starter Hunter Wienhoff pitched 5 1/3 innings and was charged with six hits and five runs with five strikeouts and two walks. Kennebeck came on in the ninth and posted his fifth save of the year, allowing two hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
Wayne State (21-19, 16-12 NSIC) and Northern State conclude the four-game NSIC series with a doubleheader Sunday in Aberdeen, S.D.
