St. Cloud, Minn. – The St. Cloud State baseball team kept its title hopes alive with a pair of wins today at the 2013 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Tournament in St. Cloud. The Huskies ended the day with a 9-3 win over Augustana College. Earlier the Huskies eliminated Wayne State in a 7-1 victory. PDF Bracket
 
The Huskies collected 18 hits in the win over Augustana, led by three-hit performances from Garrett Fischer (New Ulm), Zach Hoffmann (New Ulm) and Travis Cariveau (Sauk Rapids).
 
A four-run third inning included a Brian Hansen (Cold Spring) two-run home run, an rbi single by Sean Borman (Minnetonka) and a run scored by Borman on a throw. That gave the Huskies a 6-0 lead.
 
Augustana did put two runs on the board in the bottom of the third on a two-run single by Nate Hewes and cut the Huskies lead in half in the bottom of the fourth on a Jake Peterson sac fly.
 
The Huskies added a run in the seventh and two in the eighth to secure the win.
 
Junior left hander Chris Kubbitz (Shakopee) started on the mound for the Huskies and improved to 6-0 on the season with the win. He pitched four innings and struck out six batters, giving up seven hits.
 
Augustana centerfielder Nate Hewes was three-for-four at the plate for the Vikings and drive in two runs. Augie finished the game with three runs on ten hits and committed two errors.
 
Tyson Gau was the losing pitcher, falling to 3-1 on the season. He gave up six runs on eight hits in 2.1 innings played. The loss eliminated the Vikings from the tournament and dropped their record to 38-18.
 
St. Cloud State improved to 34-8. The Huskies will play Bemidji State at 11 a.m. Saturday on Joe Faber Field. The winner of the Huskies vs. Beavers game will advance to the championship game against Minnesota State University Mankato at 3:30 on Faber Field.
 
St. Cloud State was presented with the NSIC regular season trophy and championship t-shirts at the end of today’s game at Putz Field. The Huskies won the 2013 regular season title with a 19-3 record.