Wayne State 5 Winona State 4 (10 innings)

            Senior first baseman Aaron Molinaro blasted a solo home run over the right field wall with one out in the bottom of the 10^th inning to give Wayne State College a thrilling 5-4 win over Winona State Friday afternoon in the winner's bracket semi-finals of the 2014 NSIC Baseball Tournament at Sioux Falls Stadium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The eighth-seeded Wildcats (27-22) now advance to Friday's winner's bracket final at 12 p.m. against 38-14 Augustana College, who downed St. Cloud State 7-5 in Thursday's other semi-final contest.
            Winona State opened the scoring with a run in the top of the second for a 1-0 lead. 
            WSC tied the score in the bottom of the fourth when freshman right fielder Jake Perez connected on a one-out homer over the left field wall.
            The Warriors re-gained the lead in the top of the fifth inning scoring a pair of unearned runs for a 3-1 lead, using two hits while taking advantage of one Wildcat error.
            Wayne State got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fifth inning to make the score 3-2.  Mike Servais tripled and scored on a Curtis Bussard single to left field. 
            Winona State pushed the lead back to two with one run in the sixth, using two walks and one hit to make the score 4-2.
            The Wildcats trimmed the Warrior lead to 4-3 in the eighth as Michael Herman was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a Jake Perez single to right center field and scored on a Skye O'Neil fielder's choice.
            Wayne State tied the score in the ninth and had a chance to win the game with the bases loaded and only one out, but could not push the winning run across the plate against Winona State reliever Scott Freiburger.
            The Wildcat ninth started with pinch-hitter CJ Nolen singling through the right side.  Pinch-runner Jake Bruner moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Aaron Krier.  Zak Leighton walked and Mike Servais was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Bussard then singled to left field, scoring Bruner, to tie the game at 4-4 with just one out.  But Freiburger got Michael Herman to line out to shortstop followed by a strike out on Perez to end the rally and leave the winning run at third base.
            Wildcat reliever Curtis Bussard struck out the side, in order, in the top of the 10^th inning.  After Chris May opened the bottom of the 10^th with a groundout to shortstop, Molinaro launched a 1-1 pitch over the right field wall to give Wayne State a second straight win in the double-elimination tournament.
            Wayne State had 11 hits in the win compared to eight by Winona State.  Perez and Molinaro each went 2 for 4 at the plate with a solo home run to lead the Wildcats in hitting.  Bussard finished 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI's.  Mike Servais tripled while Michael Herman and Zak Leighton each had doubles.  Aaron Krier and CJ Nolen each singled in the win.
            Starting pitcher John Roberts worked the first 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks.  Senior lefthander Chad Kim worked the next 2 1/3 innings and gave up three hits with three strikeouts. 
            Junior righthander Ryan Zweck pitched the ninth inning, retiring all three batters with one strikeout, while sophomore closer Curtis Bussard fanned all three batters in the 10^th inning to earn the win, now 2-1 on the season.
            Wayne State and Augustana meet Friday at 12 p.m. in the winner's bracket final to be played at Ronken Field on the campus of Augustana College in Sioux Falls.