Maverick baseball continues roll on road
The Minnesota State Mavericks baseball team took on the Bemidji State Beavers with four road games Friday and Saturday, outscoring the Beavers 25-16.
“Well I think it’s that time of year, like I mentioned, where we are going to need some of our guys that create depth to step up,” said Mavericks Head Coach Matt Magers headed into the weekend. “Whether that’s on the mound or position-wise, just look to continue some consistency that some guys have, but ultimately just the guys at the back end of the rotation or the bullpen to stay in shape because we really need those guys the next couple weeks here.”
In game one, the Mavericks grabbed a 2-1 win with Brody Rodning on the mound, tallying his fifth win on the year with a seven-strikeout performance as they shut down the Beavers’ offense. It only took a Luke Waldek single, with an error at second to give Tommy McDonald a chance to score. McDonald grabbed his second RBI on a deep single to left off of Noah Bluth’s bat to secure the 2-1 lead in the seventh.
In game two, the Mavs showed their mental toughness after falling behind 4-0 in the first inning. Ricky Digrugilliers came in and cleaned up the first, relieving Nick Belzer. He pitched eight innings and held Bemidji to two runs after the four Nick let up, doing just enough for MSU’s defense to stay in the game. Then, from the third to the ninth innings the offense put up 11 runs for a dominate 11-6 victory kicked off by a Dylan Dresel two-run shot out of the ballpark. The Mavericks squad had 12 hits with nine RBI’s in route to getting Digrugilliers’ fifth victory.
Saturday saw the MSU squad yet again down in the first inning, trailing 3-0 after one. Dalton Roach made it through three innings, with four strikeouts but gave up six runs and was pulled in favor of Bobby Gauvreau. The Mavericks needed every inch of their bullpen, with Gauvreau quickly leaving after a spree of walks to get Aaron Rozek on the mound, who struck out three in two innings and held down the defense, not letting up a hit while securing the Maverick win. On offense, it was all homeruns as Dresel, Ryan Moffett, Jordan Hart, and McDonald all launched shots beyond the fence in back-to-back to back innings, bringing in the seven RBI’s the team needed to edge out the beavers 7-6.
The four-game sweep was secured via defense on Friday, with Mitchell Bauer giving out three runs but striking out six in the process. Aaron Rozek closed out a busy weekend with his third trip to the mound to grab his second save of the year. On offense, the monster bats of the Mavericks showed up again with big hits to grab the victory. Teddy Petersen started things off with a triple down the right-field line that got Eric Peterson home in the third, followed by a Dresel double to tie the game up. Hunter Walsh gained the first MSU lead of the game on a solo home run in the ninth. An error by BSU later in the inning got Moffett home after Teddy got to second on a passed ball to grab a 4-3 lead and their fourth victory.
“I thought we did a good job pitching; Mitchell came out and threw strikes, which is great and allows the game to keep moving and the defense made some plays and that was the key,” said Magers.
MSU holds a 34-7 record on the year as the season draws closer to the post season, with only eight games remaining. The Mavericks are coming into the home stretch at the number one spot in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with a 29-3 conference mark, and 19th overall in the country.
They get well deserved hiatus this week, then start a four-game home stand against conference foe Upper Iowa on Saturday and Sunday.