MINOT, N.D. – Corbett Field was not the place to be for anyone interested in a pitchers' duel Friday afternoon.

The Minot State University baseball team combined to score 35 runs in its home opener on its way to two wins over Upper Iowa in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. The Beavers took the first game of the day 11-6 and the second game 24-17.

Despite giving up six runs in game one, Josh Larsen (Sr., P, Surrey, British Columbia) provided one of his best starts of the season for the Beavers as only one of the six runs he allowed was earned. Larsen finished his day with six innings of work, striking out four and improved to 2-0 on the season.

"Josh had a good outing for us," Minot State head baseball coach Brock Weppler said. "He's thrown well over his last three starts now. If we field the ball in the second or third inning and do a little bit better there, that's an 11-0 or 11-1 game."

The Beavers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead as five different players recorded hits in the first inning.

After Upper Iowa took its only lead of the game in the top of the third with six runs, Minot State made up for its two errors as it scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning courtesy of a three-run home run from Keith Ailes (Jr., OF/1B, Bozeman, Mont.).

Austin Berntson (Jr., OF/P, Minot, N.D.) gave the Beavers two more runs with a homer to right center in the fourth inning and Jared Young (Fr., 3B/1B, Prince George, British Columbia) gave the Beavers their final run on a double to left center scoring Nicholas Hammerl (Sr., SS/2B, West Peoria, Ill.).

While Minot State came away with a 24-17 win in game two, the Beavers earned the win after finding themselves down 10-2 early on and responding with a 12-run third inning.

"I think we could easily start doubting ourselves and that could get to be a pretty ugly day, but we didn't," Weppler said. "We tried to chip away and the guys played with energy. We caught some breaks because of it. It was good. Guys had good approaches all game."

Minot State recorded 16 plate appearances in the third inning and took an 11-10 lead on a Kyle Williamson (Fr., OF, Aurora, Ore.) grand slam to left field.

Upper Iowa continued to chip away at the Beavers lead throughout the rest of the game scoring one run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth, but a five-run fourth inning and eighth inning for the Beavers solidified a day one sweep of the Peacocks.

Lane Biggs (R-Fr., P, Salem, Ore.) was credited with the win for Minot State, his first win of the season.

Offensively, every Minot State player who recorded an at-bat in either game one or game two recorded a hit on the day. Williamson, Ailes, Berntson, Paul Vogelsang (So., C, Regina, Saskatchewan) and Jordan Schulz (So., OF, Strasbourg, Saskatchewan) each recorded four or more RBIs collectively between games one and two.

With the wins, Minot State moves to .500 in the NSIC with a 5-5 record and an overall record of 8-13. Upper Iowa falls to 3-7 in the Northern Sun and 11-13 overall.

Minot State will look to close out the series tomorrow afternoon beginning at noon. Game two on Sunday will begin approximately 20 minutes following the conclusion of game one.