Double-digit scoring outputs are never frowned upon in baseball.

Unless you’re the team conceding it, of course.

Minot State’s baseball team has already enjoyed its share of marathon wins this season, but Saturday at Corbett Field, the Beavers found themselves on the wrong end of a record-breaking result. Taking on Augustana, a team boasting the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s third-most prolific offense, MSU gave up a combined 41 runs in suffering its second consecutive doubleheader sweep.

The Vikings poured on 23 runs in the opener – the most Minot State has given up in a single game since its full NSIC introduction in 2012 – in a 23-6 result. The nightcap was much more competitive, but six Augustana runs in the final four innings lifted the Vikings from three seperate deficits en route an 8-5 victory.

MSU coach Brock Weppler was frank after his team’s fourth straight conference loss.

“I think our guys just came out with the wrong mindset,” he said. “We have to be confident in each other and we have to compete, and that first game, we just weren’t confident. I thought halfway through that first game we kind of flipped a light switch and cleaned it up a little bit. More than anything, I thought we did a better job competing down the stretch. I don’t think we competed at all in the first half of that first game, and it got ugly.”

The first game certainly was for Minot State.

Taking a 1-0 deficit into the second inning of the opener, the Beavers went on to concede 13 runs over the next two innings, running MSU starter Josh Larsen from the mound after just 11/3 innings pitched. Larsen gave up seven runs – six earned – on four hits and four walks.

Minot State pitcher Austin Zorn didn’t fare much better in relief. Three pitches following his introduction, Zorn served up a two-run double to Augustana’s designated hitter Bryce Berg, who finished the game with five RBIs. Zorn eventually gave up seven runs of his own, but only two were earned as the Beavers committed three errors behind him.

Minot State committed 13 miscues in 16 combined innings.

“They made some errors in that first game, obviously,” Augustana coach Tim Huber said. “We hit some balls at some guys, and whether they were errors or hits, I don’t know. On the book, it looks like they made a lot of mistakes, but we hit some balls really well that first game and just got after it and put it away.”

The Vikings racked up 17 hits in their opening wins, followed by a 16-hit performance in the nightcap. Berg finished 3-for-6 at the plate, while third baseman Patrick Fiala and outfielder Marcus O’Neill finished with two hits and three RBIs apiece.

MSU (8-17 overall, 5-9 NSIC) has given up at least eight runs in eight consecutive games.

“It was just a snowball,” MSU outfielder Jordan Schultz said. “We couldn’t stop the errors.”

At this point, should the Beavers shoot for 10 runs a game to give themselves a chance?

Weppler says no. In fact, he believes that’s a poor way to attack a ballgame.

But he does admit his team’s need to “buy in.”

“If your role is the book that day, you have to buy in, you have to give us everything you have,” Weppler said. “And when our team can do that, I think that’s when you’re going to start seeing us rattle off wins. We did it last year at the end of the season, and that’s how we’re going to do it this year. We just have to continue to buy into that mindset and bring it to every inning, every game.”

The Beavers certainly brought that level of focus to the first inning of the nightcap.

Beginning with a leadoff walk from center fielder Kyle Williamson, MSU reeled off three consecutive hits, none bigger than Schultz’s three-run home run to left.

“It definitely got the dugout up,” Schultz said, “and I felt like we were in that whole game.”

Schultz’s blast staked a 3-1 lead for the Beavers, an advantage they maintained for a majority of the contest.

MSU starter Mark LaCroix was as big reason for that. Making his first start of the season, LaCroix pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up three earned runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out three.

Weppler hopes to see more of his hurlers develop the confidence with which LaCroix is currently pitching.

“The one thing with Mark is you know he’s going to go out there and compete, that no one wants it more than him. He’s going to give you everything that he has, and that’s all we ask of our guys,” Weppler said. “We have too many pitchers right now that are kind of half in, half out. They’re maybe questioning some of their stuff, just not 100 percent into it, not confident. And when you’re on the mound, you’re questioning your pitches or questioning your ability, you’re not going to have success. It’s as simple as that.”

LaCroix limited the Vikings (17-12, 8-6) to one run entering the sixth inning, when a sacrifice fly and a solo dinger from outfielder Patrick O’Donnell drew Augustana level.

The Beavers responded with bases-loaded walks in both the sixth and seventh innings to reclaim seperate one-run leads, but in the eighth, the Vikings flashed their offensive firepower once again.

“Some days we don’t show up, but we definitely showed up today,” Huber said. “It shows that we only had 16 hits on the board, but it seemed like we hit a lot more balls hard all over the park. Anytime you put up 16 hits and eight runs, you’re going to have a good chance to win.”

O’Donnell initiated Augustana’s comeback on the third pitch of the eighth with his second homer of the night and third of the doubleheader. Two more Augustana hits and three MSU errors eventually staked a three-run cushion for the Vikings with fewer than two full innings to play.

The Beavers were simply unable to respond.

“I think we just have to forget about today and come ready to battle like we did in the second game,” Schultz said. “Right from the get-go, from the very first pitch, just come ready to fight from start to finish.”

Minot State welcomes the Vikings for another doubleheader at Corbett Field today, beginning at noon.

Joe Mellenbruch covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Mellenbruch_MDN.