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DICKINSON — In their triple-header victory over Presentation College, Dickinson State University ended the regular season with a 11-9 conference record, further cementing their third place standing in the North Star Athletic Association.
The regular season came to an end for the Blue Hawks (11-9, 18-22) at home on Thursday, shutting out the Saints (9-21, 5-42) in the first two of their three games.
Defense on both sides tallied lots of scoreless innings, but timely hitting — including five home runs — would give Dickinson State the advantage late.
Sophomore power-hitter Dawson Cortese showed his continued domination inside the batter’s box, garnering three of the Blue Hawks’ late inning bombs that would led his team to victory. Corteses etched six RBIs in the series, leading the team.
Game one looked conclusive after DSU tallied five runs in the second inning, with two scores coming courtesy of sacrifice flies by Jacob Clinton and Angel Faras. They would go on another streak of runs at the bottom of the fourth with two dingers off the bats of Cortese and Cade Ostenson.
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The final score would be 8-0.
Sophomore Jacob Scully held the mound for the entirety of the game, going 95 pitches and retiring eight of 23 batters faced. Scully would allow only three hits throughout.
In game two the Blue Hawks would again be decisive, holding onto an early 3-0 lead.
The Saints found themselves in scoring position just once in the game, but it would only amount to a stranded runner. The Saints did attempt to increase tempo via stolen bases and extra base attempts, but would find their attempts thwarted courtesy of 5-4-3 double plays.
Starter junior Brannan Hogan pitched three "1,2,3," innings, garnering eight K's before being relieved by senior Tyler Gray at the top of the seventh inning. Gray walked his first batter, but would find his rhythm thereafter.
The Saints’ bats woke up in game three, but would come far too late. The Saints would be outdone by the Blue Hawks again in an 8-3 comfortable margin.
Dickinson State began their run of scores with back-to-back homers by Cortese and junior Derrick Calvillo in the first inning, and wouldn't really look back the remainder of the game.
Presentation College did rally once, making it a one run game in the fourth inning with a two-RBI single, but the Blue Hawks would quickly respond with five runs of their own before the final out. The Saints fought to at least tie the game at the top of the seventh, but would only score a single run and have a runner left stranded before the game came to an end.
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The Dickinson Press stand-out player of the game would go to Cortese, whose two-run home runs in the game and three runs would highlight an effort that should garner attention from future opposing team gameplans.
DSU went to the bullpen twice in the game, first coming after Jonathan Lerma pitched five innings and then after Lerma clutched his way to nine K’s. Trent Richter and Cade Kazmirski both pitched a single inning and did not fail to let up on defense, delivering five strikeouts between the two of them.
With all three games being won with early leads, the wins were collected by all three starting pitchers.
Dickinson State is now waiting for the regular season to end for the fellow NSAA teams for the postseason to begin. The conference tournament is tentatively scheduled to begin May 6.
