Sioux Falls, S.D. --- No. 3 Minnesota State has now won 16 straight games after defeating the University of Sioux Falls on Saturday afternoon in a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate contests in Sioux Falls.

The Mavericks defeated the Cougars 9-3 in game one and followed that up with an 13-0 win in the game two of the twinbill. MSU now stands 33-4 overall and are 23-3 in the NSIC. USF falls to 15-27 overall and are 12-14 in league play.

Senior Nolan Johnson hit his fifth home run of the season to put the Mavericks up 1-0 in game one of the doubleheader. Redshirt freshman Josh Crosby hit a single to left field scoring junior Taylor Branstad to plate the second run of the game. Back to Back singles to lead of the third inning by senior's Connor McCallum and Max Waletich led to McCallum scoring on a fielder's choice. Redshirt freshman Dylan Dresel pushed the score to 4-0 with an RBI single later in the inning.

In the fifth inning Dresel, Branstad and Crosby each had RBI singles to make the score 7-0 in favor of the Purple and Gold. Waletich hit an RBI double in the sixth and MSU took advantage of a Cougar error to make the score 9-0. USF tallied three runs in the seventh but the damage had already been done.

Senior Joey Reed pitched picked up his first win of the year after tossing five shutout innings and allowing only five hits, zero walks and striking out three. Junior Tyler Ockuly pitched the final two innings allowed three earned runs and struck out three batters.

Dresel finished 3-4 with three RBI in game one while Branstad went 3-4 with one RBI and two runs. Johnson batted 2-4 with a home run and two RBI.

Even thought the Mavericks offense scroed 12 runs in game two, they didn't need with sophomore Mitchell Bauer on the hill. Bauer pitched a complete game two hitter and struck out four to move to 3-1 on the year.

Once again MSU started the scoring, this time with Waletich scoring junior Kyle Toth in the first inning as MSU took a 1-0 lead. In the third inning, the Purple and Gold were able to get a two out rally started and plate three to take a 4-0 lead. McCallum and Waletich each walked and a double by Johnson scored McCallum. Then a wild pitch scored Waletich and moved Johnson up to third. Branstad followed that up with a double down the left field line.

In the fourth the Mavericks batted through the order and scored seven runs to blow open the game. The bases were loaded for McCallum who hit an infield RBI single. Waletich then was hit by pitch to bring home another run. The Cougars made a pitching change but that didn't stop MSU. Johnson single through the left side and Branstad walked to score two more. Dresel than doubled down the right field line to score two more and redshirt freshman Luke Waldek hit an infield RBI single.

Johnson picked up his third RBI of the game with a single to center field scoring Toth with two outs pushing the lead to 12-0 in the fifth and the Mavericks scored one more on an error in the seventh.

Johnson paced the offense the offense attack going 3-4 with three RBI and scoring two runs. Branstad, Waletich, Waldek and Dresel each had two RBI.

The Mavericks and Cougars will be back in action again tomorrow afternoon for another pair of NSIC games. The first pitch for game in is scheduled for 12 p.m.