Bluejay baseball team splits Sioux Falls games on Friday, Sunday

The Minnesota West baseball team won two and lost two in games played this past weekend in Sioux Falls.

On Friday, the Bluejays competed in a pair of games each decided by a single run. In the first contest, Minnesota West was edged 5-4 by Minnesota North College-Rainy River. It then captured a nine-inning game against St. Cloud Tech, 7-6.

The Bluejays kept themselves in Friday's first matchup despite managing just three hits; one of them was a home run by Ales Zhao. Rainy River got a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to move ahead by one and then held off Minnesota West in the seventh. In game two, the Bluejays collected seven hits, with Samuel Taveras the only player with more than one. Cole Jessen pitched a scoreless inning of relief to get the win, and Zhao earned a one-inning save.

On Saturday, Minnesota West again won in extras, as it topped Northland 5-4 in eight innings. Zhao had three hits in the victory, Noah Garcia and Max Biehl added two hits apiece and Layke Miller homered. The Bluejays then fell to Alexandria 19-14. Zhao had a double and two singles, Taveras had two doubles and Miller got two hits and drove in three runs.

Minnesota West is now 9-10 overall. They'll play twice against Minnesota North College-Vermilion on Thursday in Norwalk, Iowa.