Wayne State dropped both ends of doubleheader Saturday at Minnesota Duluth, losing 12-4 and 9-6 to fall to 15-28 (9-15 NSIC) on the season.
In the first game, the host Bulldogs erupted for seven runs in the first inning and held a 10-0 lead after two innings on their way to the five-inning win. Duluth had only one more hit than Wayne State in the contest (6-5), but used 10 walks from Wildcat pitching to score 12 runs.
Down 10-0 in the fourth, Wayne State got on the board with three runs thanks to a three-run homer from freshman Ashley Hernandez. Junior first baseman Emily Chandler added a solo homer in the fifth to close out the Wildcat scoring.
Raquel Penke, Jordyn Breitbarth and Baylee Rial each singled. Starter Maddie Moser suffered the loss, working 2 2/3 innings while junior reliever Alyx Hagen pitched 1 1/3 innings.
Duluth completed the evening sweep despite committing four errors that allowed the Wildcats to score five unearned runs in the game.
Wayne State scored single runs in the first and second for an early 2-0 lead. Katelyn Wobken reached on an error to start the game and scored on a Chandler sacrifice fly. The second run came on a Wobken infield single to third that scored Breitbarth, who also reached on a Bulldog error.
Duluth countered by scoring three runs in the second and third innings for a 6-2 lead.
Wayne State got within one run in the fourth. Wobken had an RBI double down the left field line scoring Hernandez, Morgan Vasa had an RBI infield single to third that scored Rial and Wobken scored on Chandler’s RBI single to left field.
But the host Bulldogs pushed the lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the fourth with one run and added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 9-5 lead. Wayne State added a run in the seventh on a Penke RBI single, but could get no closer as Duluth went on to the doubleheader sweep.
Wayne State had 10 hits in the contest. Wobken went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Hernandez finished 2-for-4 while Rial had a double and run scored. Chandler, Alyx Hagen, Vasa, Breitbarth and Penke each singled.
Riley Vanderveen was tagged with the pitching loss, working the first three innings and allowing six runs. Moser worked the final three innings and was charged with three runs.
The Wildcats finish the regular season Sunday afternoon at St. Cloud State in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at St. Cloud, Minn.
