PITTSBURG — The Pittsburg State University baseball team capitalized on three errors by the University of Minnesota Duluth to grab an early lead then the Gorillas turned to their offense to pull away for a 14-7 victory in the first of four games against the Bulldogs Friday (Feb. 19).

Pitt State (3-2) and UMD (0-1) will resume the series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday (Feb. 20) at Al Ortolani Field.

On Friday, the Gorillas jumped out to leads of 2-0 and 5-3 in the first two frames as the Bulldogs made three defensive errors in their season debut.

After UMD tied the score at 5-5 and chased Pitt State starter George Brandecker in the top of the third inning, the Gorillas bounced back to take a 7-5 lead on Christian Arnold's two-run home run. Cole Brecheisen opened the frame with a double against UMD's Austin Vaske (0-1).

Tyler Martinkus (1-1) worked five strong innings of relief behind Brandecker, scattering four hits and allowing just one run in the process.

The Gorillas rapped out 16 hits in the contest, scoring one or more run in seven of eight innings. Seven different Pitt State players accumulative two hits in the contest. Arnold and Cooper Karlin each scored three runs.

Ryan McKay picked up his third save of the season – the 22nd of his four-year career for the Gorillas – by recording the final five outs. He entered the game with a 10-7 lead with two runners on base in the eighth inning. McKay induced Alex Wojciechowski to pop out to third base and Kyle Comer to foul out to catcher Jack Mercer for the final out of the frame.

Pitt State then tacked on four insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a two-run single by Jake Derossette and an two-run triple by Sam Falcon.