Wenzel sets program record, Mavs win two in Minot
The Minnesota State baseball team won two of three games played against the Minot State Beavers this past weekend in Minot, North Dakota.
The Mavericks snapped a 17-game winning streak with a 10-5 loss to the Minot State Beavers Saturday afternoon.
Brody Rodning took the loss for the Mavericks, going 2.2 innings allowing seven hits and walking seven. Minot was the first on the board, putting up four runs in the second and an additional three in the third. Minnesota State answered with a double to score Hunter Walsh in the fourth off the bat of Noah Bluth before Walsh doubled to left, scoring Josh Wenzel in the fifth. Bluth helped cut the lead down by scoring Hart with a sacrifice fly out to center. Luke Waldek closed out the fifth inning with a single to score Walsh again. Dresel finished the Mavericks’ scoring and closed the gap to three runs with a single to right to score Teddy Petersen. Minot then added two additional runs in the sixth to secure the win.
Minnesota State’s offense exploded in game two of the Saturday double-header to give them a 19-1 victory over Minot. Dresel started the scoring with a home run in the second, while Petersen added another run off a single. Tommy McDonald added a grand slam, his second of 2017, in the third to give the Mavericks a 7-0 lead. They added another two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth before exploding in the seventh. Hart got the inning started with a run batted in (RBI) single to left while Dresel followed it up with a double down the left field line to score Eric Peterson. Peterson closed out the inning with a two-run home run to left, bringing Waldek home. The Beavers scored their lone run in the seventh. Nick Belzer picked up the win for the Mavericks, going six innings allowing only three hits while striking out eight.
Wenzel got the Sunday double-header off to an impressive start by hitting a program-best four home runs in the contest. Wenzel started the game with a homer to left to bring home Peterson before adding one more in the second, two in the third and one in the fifth. The previous record for most home runs in a single game was three, set in 2013 by Jon Flattery. The NCAA D-II record stands at five by St. Edward’s Josh Hamilton in 2013. Wenzel also totaled a career-best eight runs batted in. Ricky Digrugilliers added another win, throwing a complete game allowing six hits, no walks and fanning six Beavers. Peterson also notched three runs on two hits in his four at bats.
Minnesota State finished off the road trip with a 5-2 win over Minot Sunday afternoon. All but one of the Mavericks’ runs came as a result of home runs by three different batters. Dresel, Walsh, and Tyler Berg all added home runs to their stats; they now total six, three and one home runs, respectively. Peterson added the other run with a single to left, scoring Bluth. Junior Quinn Ahern picked up his second win of the year, throwing five innings allowing six hits and no walks, while Aaron Rozek notched his first save closing out the last four innings with three hits and five strikeouts.
“I thought we did a really nice job responding as a team after dropping the opening game of the series. We had a lot of guys step up when we needed them to which was great to see. It was a full team effort all weekend long to win the series” assistant coach PJ McIntee said.
The Mavericks are set to play the University of Sioux Falls Cougars Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. at the MSU Baseball Complex.