Baseball hits road last time before home opener

With their record currently at 9-4, the Mavericks look to finish the weekend strong before coming home

Aaron Young
Staff Writer

The Maverick baseball team kicks off a four-game series this weekend against the Minot State Beavers. The games will take place at Plattsmouth High School in Plattsmouth, Nebraska at 10 a.m. in two doubleheaders matchups that’ll take place today and tomorrow versus the Beavers. The Mavs (9-4, 4-0 NSIC) have been on fire, winning their last five games, and eight of their last nine.

After ending the series with a walk-off walk against Southwest Minnesota State just this past weekend, junior outfielder, Tyler Berg, talks about what was going through his mind at the plate.

“The bases were loaded. I was up there trying to see a strike first and he didn’t even throw one so its one of the easier at-bats I’ve had in a while”, he said.

In addition to this remark, Berg explains the importance of coming off a victory heading into more conference play.

“[We’re] getting the train rolling. Now we just [have] to take it one week at a time. We know we can do it so we just [have] to stick with our approaches,” he said confidently.

I don’t see why he wouldn’t be confident. The players have been on a roll and don’t seem to be looking to stop anytime soon.

An important person to watch at the plate this weekend is Josh Wenzel, who has been the talk of the town as of late. The senior outfielder was named the NSIC player of the week this past week. In the previous series against Southwest Minnesota State, Wenzel connected on two doubles, had five RBI’s and two runs of his own en route to victory. Three of those runs were crucial, as two were the game-winning runs and the other a game-tying in a comeback victory against the Mustangs early Sunday. He certainly came through in the clutch when the team needed him the most.

On the bump will be senior left-handed pitcher, Aaron Rozek. The senior threw 14 K’s in seven innings in competition against the Mustangs. His 14 strikeouts have put him at the top of the leaderboard in the conference for strikeouts per nine innings in the NSIC with roughly 17.

From one senior to another, Dalton Roach continues to impress at 3-0. The Tomko recipient also made history last weekend, throwing his 296th career strikeout, passing Jason Hoppe as the athlete with most strikeouts in the programs history. Roach currently has 311 strikeouts and isn’t letting a milestone stop him from getting more.

Another Maverick who deserves recognition is senior Luke Waldek. The shortstop has an outstanding BA of .432 and even better slugging percentage at .568 this season. The phenom has clocked in 19 hits, six doubles, seven RBI’s and nine runs. He leads the Mavs in batting average, on-base percentage, runs scored, doubles and walks. His performance so far has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Their opponent the Beavers also look to continue their momentum as well come Thursday. Minot State is coming off a successful series against Winona State winning three of four. They are 3-1 in the conference and 5-9 overall.

Get your Maverick ballcaps on and gloves ready for the game this weekend as the Mavericks clash with the Beavers in their last four-game showdown before their bigger home-opener next weekend versus Winona State.