Maverick baseball team stays hot in Florida
The team travels home after winning most of their games in the sunshine state
Andrew Neururer
Staff Writer
The Minnesota State Mavericks baseball team had a nice spring break of their own. The past couple of weeks, the team played eight games, winning six of those games, in eight days while in Florida – a stretch of warm weather before heading back to the cold and snow.
On the season, the Mavericks are 8-3, dropping just one game in the last week to Ashland University.
During their Florida excursion, Minnesota State was hot, going 6-2 in their games in Florida. Scoring runs was not an issue for them in the eight games they played, putting up at least six runs per game in all but two games during this stretch.
On Thursday, March 7, senior outfielder Jordan Hart broke the school’s all-time home run record against West Virginia Wesleyan. The previous record was 29, held by former Maverick baseball player, Josh Smith. Hart currently has 30 career home runs and will be looking to add to that total in his final season.
The Mavericks took the first game this past week on Monday, against Florida Southern. The team had a comfortable lead throughout the game until the Moccasin’s scored four in the sixth inning. Regardless, Minnesota State came away with a win, scoring 10 runs on 10 hits.
Redshirt sophomore Jimmy Larson was the winning pitcher – snagging his first of the season.
Mankato won the second game of their back-to-back, beating Gannon University 7-2. The Mavericks scored seven runs on 13 hits and never looked back after scoring four runs in the third inning.
Gannon scored first, but it was Minnesota State who came up victorious behind redshirt freshman Jack Zigan’s second win of the season.
On Wednesday, the Mavericks were able win their third game in a row after defeating University of Findlay. It was the lowest offensive outing for the team this last week, but it was a win, nonetheless.
Redshirt sophomore pitcher Trevor Divinski was able to pick up the win on a 4-3 victory. It took some late game heroics to do so, as Mankato fell to an early 3-0 hole. Infielder Ty Buck was 0-3 before hitting in the game winning run in the ninth inning.
West Virginia Wesleyan was no match for the Mavericks on Thursday. Minnesota State was able to move on to 8-2, after a 11-4 win. Sophomore pitcher Cam Kline is now 2-0 on the season after picking up the win.
The Maverick’s couldn’t keep their perfect week on their final day in Florida, losing to Ashland University, 8-9. It was a hard-fought battle till the end, but ultimately, they lost to the now 9-1 Eagles.
The Mavericks dug themselves in a hole again after being down by four early in the second. Minnesota State fought back and took the lead by the eighth inning, until Ashland scored two runs in the ninth to win the game.
It was a good week in Florida for the Mavericks and they will be looking to keep things rolling when St. Cloud State comes to town this Saturday. The Huskies are a great baseball team, standing in at 11-1 and ranked 11th in the country, but the Mavericks look to match up well with the team moving forward.
Header photo: Senior outfielder Jordan Hart (pictured) became the school’s all-time leader in home runs after hitting his 30th career jack last week. (Courtesy of Maverick Athletics)