Ryan Ladika/MDN Kaiden Cardoso rounds third base after socking his third-inning home run during MSU's eventual 10-6 defeat.

A relaxed yet focused atmosphere beset the pregame scene at Corbett Field, but the Minot State Beavers fell to the University of Minnesota Crookston 10-6 in a thrilling, back-and-forth affair to open the NSIC tournament Thursday afternoon.

The Beavers met the Golden Eagles for the fourth consecutive game Thursday after wrapping up the regular season with a three-game set May 7-8. Noah Myhre and RJ Martinez both tossed seven-inning complete games to lead the way for a sweep of the May 7 twin-bill before the Beavers dropped the third game of the series by a narrow 4-3 final score.

The dominant efforts paved way for an easy choice for head coach Scott Eul to send Martinez out once again to kick off the conference tournament.

The southpaw had his swing-and-miss stuff working early and often against the Golden Eagles, striking out Ben Bryant on three pitches to being the contest and setting Will Zimmerman down on strikes immediately afterward.

Second baseman Mason Ruhlman lined a two-out double, but Beavers center fielder Jake Collins bailed Martinez out of the inning with a tremendous over-the-shoulder diving grab to rob Brock Reller of extra bases and keep Crookston off the scoreboard.

Minot State went down in order in the home half, but cracked the scoreboard first in the second inning courtesy of an RBI single by Ryley Humrighouse that plated Jake Collins, who earlier reached with a one-out single.

It took only the first marker to burst the dam, and an offensive barrage from both sides ensued. The Eagles’ Mason Ruhlman cranked a three-run shot in the top of the third, and Nolan Monthei and Kaiden Cardoso each crushed solo shots in the bottom half to tie the game at three runs apiece.

The fourth long ball by either team came in the top of the fourth, when Jake Hjelle slapped a solo home run of his own to give a 4-3 lead right back to Crookston.

After the Golden Eagles tacked on one more in the top of the sixth, the Beavers produced a furious rally to swing the momentum back in their direction. Declan Buckle and Humrighouse reached via a leadoff walk and single, and Tyler Wiltshire bunted both of his teammates over another 90 feet.

Leadoff man and designated hitter Matt Malone was next, and he came through with the biggest knock of the day, a two-run double that tied the game at five. Monthei later singled him home to give Minot State a 6-5 lead.

Martinez, meanwhile, was quite effective, save for the three-run third inning and fourth-inning solo shot he surrendered. The lefty finished his afternoon with nine strikeouts, one shy of his season-high 10 punchouts May 1 against Minnesota Duluth, and only one walk across 5.1 innings of four-run ball.

Craig Schmich and Jordan Chappell combined for 2.2 innings of relief, allowing only a single hit, before giving way for Aaron Kern in the top of the ninth.

The Beavers’ right-handed closer experienced early struggles that snowballed into a five-run top of the ninth for the Golden Eagles, as nine men came to the plate and produced four hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly to take a 10-6 advantage.

The Beavers could not muster another last-minute rally against Brody Sorenson in their half of the ninth, and fell by the 10-6 score. Seven of Minot State’s starting nine earned at least one hit in the contest, and Malone and Monthei both led the squad with two RBI apiece.

Minot State will look to even up the series Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. and force a decisive game three that would take place two hours later.

Beavers softball falls to Sioux Falls 10-2, Winona State 6-5

Minot State softball opened up its respective NSIC tournament Thursday afternoon as well, but the Beavers dropped their tournament opener 10-2 to the University of Sioux Falls in Rochester, Minnesota.

Entering the tournament, Minot State head coach Nat Wagner stressed the importance of making the routine plays in the field when his team is on defense. When it was all said and done, unsteady defense proved to be the Beavers’ Achilles’ heel during their Thursday contest.

The Beavers were in search of a bit of revenge against their initial opponent, as the team was swept by the Cougars in an April 25 twin-bill by a combined 16-3 score across the two games. An early display of shaky fielding Thursday made its goal more difficult to achieve and put the Beavers in an immediate hole behind starter Trinity Valentine.

The Cougars plated a run in the top of the first with the help of two Beavers errors, and after the Beavers failed to capitalize on consecutive one-out singles in the home half, two more second-inning miscues gave way for 12 Cougars hitters to take their hacks, six of whom came around to score.

By the time Minot State mustered its first run thanks to a second-inning RBI double by Lenora Watson, it was still down by six tallies. The Beavers would scratch a second run across in the third on a run-scoring single by Julia Suchan, but their early mistakes proved too costly to overcome, as the team dropped their first game 10-2.

The Beavers met Winona State in the second game of the day, and got off to a hot start thanks to an RBI single by Gabi Dawyduk and a bases-loaded walk worked by Watson. A three-run triple by the Warriors’ Rylee Stout gave them the lead right back in the home half, though, and more shaky defense in the form of five errors led to an eventual 6-5 defeat.

Minot State did benefit from a two-run double by Alina Gonzalez and a Maggie Mercer sacrifice fly, but could not overcome their defensive woes as their season came to an end at the hands of the Warriors.