Box Score | Southwest Box Score (.pdf) | St. Cloud Box Score (.pdf)

The Northern State baseball team split the day Sunday at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz., in its second day of the Tucson Invitational. The Wolves recorded an 8-5 win over preseason No. 7 St. Cloud State in the night cap and fell to Southwest Minnesota State 14-9 in their first game of the day.

Kris Keating pitched 4.2 innings of scoreless relief for the Wolves (2-2) in the victory over St. Cloud to pick up his first win of the season. Keating allowed just four hits and one walk while striking-out seven in relief of starter John Eckstein.

After three and a half scoreless innings, the Wolves got on the board first with a two-out rally that scored three runs. A Riley Shintaffer RBI double to center drove in Matt Stubbs to get NSU on the board, followed by a Robert Fahlin double to left field to score Shintaffer. After a wild pitch advanced Fahlin to third, a Tyler Gripentrog single brought in Fahlin to post the Wolves to a 3-0 advantage.

The Huskies (7-3) would rally with a five-run fifth inning but that was all the damage SCSU would do as Keating went to work for Northern.

The Wolves would score three more in the fifth inning to take the lead for good after a Maurice Rodriguez RBI double scored Clayton Nutting. Stubbs then delivered the go-ahead hit as he singled to left field to score Rodriguez and Robbie Rocamora to put Northern up 6-5. The Wolves added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth on a Nutting two RBI single that plated Eric O' Bryan and Gripentrog.

Gripentrog, Nutting and Shintaffer all had two-hit games for Northern and eight different Wolves scored runs in the win. The Wolves collected five doubles in the game, including two from Shintaffer and 10 total hits in the victory. NSU left eight runners on base while the Huskies stranded 11.

Against Southwest, a Wolves rally fell short as Northern trailed 8-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth. NSU scored six runs in the inning to cut the lead to 8-7 but couldn't manage to get over the hump and the Mustangs added two more runs in the seventh, one in the eighth and three in the ninth to extend their lead.

Rocamora, Nate Russell and Shintaffer all collected an RBI in the six-run inning. Russell went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in the loss while Rocamora was 2-of-3 with a run and an RBI. Shintaffer also scored two runs in the loss. The Wolves used five pitchers against Southwest. Colton Boucher took the loss.

Northern returns to action again Monday against Southwest in a doubleheader beginning at noon central time from Tucson.