ST. PAUL (St. Paul Dome) – The Bemidji State University dropped the first two games of its 2013 season at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Crossover tournament in St. Paul Tuesday. The Beavers fell 3-1 to Northern State University in the first game of their doubleheader before dropping the second game to Minnesota State University Moorhead, 7-4.

In the first game, Bemidji State starting pitcher Kelsey Saralampi (Jr., P, Esko, Minn.) and Northern State starter Kami Smesmo each went the first three innings without facing more than 13 batters or surrendering a run.

In the bottom of the fourth, NSU got on the board with back-to-back RBI doubles. Jordin Novak drove Kalie Maiden in before Caitlin Moran made it 3-0 by scoring Novak and Macey Engel in the team’s next at bat.

The Beavers finally got on the board when Mikayla Osterman (Fr., C, Sierra Vista, Ariz.) led off the fifth inning with a home run. The homer was the first hit of Osterman’s career. The run would not be enough to spark a comeback, however, as Smesmo would go the distance to give the Wolves their first win of the season.

Saralampi gave up just the three fourth-inning runs in five innings of work while striking out six, but was handed her first loss of the new season.

Bemidji State got off to a better start in its second game of the day, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against MSU Moorhead. Saralampi scored Nicole Dupay (Jr., OF, Woodbury, Minn.) on a double after Crystal Bowen (Sr., IF, Duluth, Minn.) grounded out to score Summer Monsrud (So., OF, Bemidji, Minn.).

After the Dragons got a run back in the top half of the second, BSU answered when Jineane Williams (Fr., OF, Bemidji, Minn.) made it home on a Monsrud single.

The 3-1 score held until the fourth inning, when MSU Moorhead took advantage of two Bemidji State errors to push across five runs. The Dragons tacked on another run to make it 7-3 in the fifth before Lyndsey Peterson (Fr., P/IF, Cottonwood, Minn.) capped the scoring for the day with a home run in the next inning.

Peterson took the loss in the game loss in the game, stiking out out one Dragon hitter in her first career start. Peterson also hurled a scoreless sixth inning in the Beavers’ first game of the day. 

BSU picks up play Tuesday morning with more NSIC Crossover action against the University of Minnesota Duluth at 10 before finishing its first trip of the season with a rematch against MSU Moorhead at noon.

--bsu--