Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PITTSBURG, Kan.– After two disappointing losses Saturday afternoon, the Minot State Beaver baseball team redeemed themselves with two big wins over Wayne State College in non-conference play Sunday afternoon.

A dominant pitching performance by Austin Berntson (So., P, Minot, N.D.) led MISU to a 3-0 win in game one while a clutch walk off home run by senior A.J. Begay (Sr., 3B, Salt Lake City, Utah) allowed the Beavers to down the Wildcats 7-4 in the series finale. Minot State and WSC each won two apiece in the four game series.

Berntson was consistent in his first start of the season as he pitched a complete game shutout racking up a career-high eight strikeouts while giving up just five hits to Wildcat batters. It was Berntson's fourth start of his career while he now has a perfect 3-0 record in a MISU uniform.

"He got ahead of batters and stayed low in the zone," said Minot State head coach Brock Weppler. "He really attacked them hard and used all of his pitches effectively. If we can do that as a staff consistently, we can be very successful."

Providing the offensive spark for the Beavers was redshirt freshman Paul Vogelsang (C, Regina, Saskatchewan) who hit a solo home run in his very first collegiate at bat. Vogelsang also caught for MISU in the win, and according to Weppler was a big reason for the pitching success.

"Paul called a very good game behind the plate," said Weppler. "For a young guy he did some really impressive things for us and it's great to see him hit a home run in his first at bat. That really energized the team."

In game two of the day, the Beavers fell behind both early and late, but never gave up as they scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to sweep WSC on the day. Starting pitcher Jesse Goertzen (So., P, Steinbach, Manitoba) allowed a first inning run but MISU battled back to score two of their one in the bottom half of the inning.

Goertzen pitched 5.1 innings in his season debut, allowing just three earned runs while striking out five WSC batters.

"Jesse (Goertzen) did a good job on the mound I thought," said Weppler. "We have to clean it up defensively to give our guys a better chance. We made a few key errors that allowed them to get a few runs but fortunately we were able to execute at the plate and get runs we needed to."

Trailing by one in the bottom of the seventh, Brad Rolff (Jr., Inf., North Fork, Calif.) reached base and eventually scored on a Wayne State past ball to tie the game. Andrew Roach (Jr., OF, Gilbert, Ariz.) and Connor Moughtin (Sr., C, Victoria, British Columbia) also reached base in the inning, setting the table for Begay who hit a three-run walk off home run to win the game.

It was Begay's first home run as a Beaver as he had 29 hits, seven doubles and one triple a season ago.
"We never gave up," said Weppler. "A.J. obviously had the big at bat to win the game for us but as a whole team I was really impressed with our approaches in the late innings and just our overall attitude."

The Beavers (2-2 Overall) will now prepare for the 2014 Tucson Invitational Games on March 10 through March 16. MISU will play nine games in seven days including two matchups against No. 7 St. Cloud State University.