Baseball pushes win streak to six games

Jake Rinehart
Staff Writer

The Minnesota State Mavericks baseball team opened this week with a four-game homestand against the University of Mary.

Due to poor field conditions, the games were moved from MSU to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN for the weekend.

The Mavericks got the win in the first game of the series, as they won by a score of 2-0 Thursday.

Both of MSU’s runs would be unearned runs in which baserunners scored on a wild pitch.

Junior outfielder, Tyler Berg, scored in the third inning and sophomore infielder, Tommy McDonald, scored in the seventh inning for the Mavericks.

Junior catcher, Tom Imholte, and Berg were the only players who recorded a hit for the Mavericks during the game.

On the bump for this matchup was senior right-handed pitcher, Quinn Ahern. For Ahern, he was wheeling and dealing on the mound for the Mavericks. In seven innings, he allowed only three hits, while striking out eight and walking none. Ahern moved his record to 2-1 on the season with the victory.

The Mavericks would end Thursday being undefeated, as they would win the second game of the doubleheader, 6-2.

Things got off to a hot start for MSU. Tom Imholte tripled in his first at bat of the game, allowing Josh Wenzel to score. Imholte would score on a sacrifice fly by Luke Waldek in the same inning.

The game would end on the same note as well, with senior infielder, Teddy Petersen, hitting a triple in the seventh inning to score freshman infielder, Carter Elliott. Elliott’s run would be the final run of the game for the Mavericks.

Imholte led the game with two RBIs on the day. Sophomore, Tory Miller, also hit for a game-high two hits in three at bats for the Mavericks.

On this day, freshman pitcher, Cam Kline, was on the mound for MSU and had his stuff working. He would go a full seven innings, allowing only three hits and two earned runs, while striking out five.

Kline picked up his first victory of the year with the 6-2 Maverick victory, bringing his record to 1-0 on the season.

The final two games of the doubleheader were played on Friday in St. Peter, MN.

The bats remained hot for the Mavericks, as they would claim game one by a score of 6-3.

Elliott again got the ball rolling for the Mavs in the first inning, as he doubled down the right field line, allowing Ty Buck to score the first run of the game.

Teddy Petersen hit his first homerun of the season, a three-run shot in the fourth inning to give the Mavericks a comfortable 5-1 lead.

In the fourth inning, sophomore infielder, Tory Miller, laid down a bunt for a single that would result in a throwing error, which allowed sophomore, Cody Ulfers, to score. Ulfers was on first base when Miller was in the batter’s box, but due to subsequent throwing errors, he would score.

Peterson, along with sophomore, Ty Buck, would record the most hits in this game for the Mavericks, with Petersen finishing the day 2-3 with three RBIs and Buck finishing 2-4.

Junior outfielder, Jesus Payan, was a perfect 4-4 from the plate for Mary.

Freshman pitcher, Trevor Divinski, would get the victory for the Mavericks. He finished the game with six innings pitched, nine hits, only one earned run and 10 strikeouts on the day. The victory brought Divinski’s record to 2-0 on the season.

The final game of the four-game series was won by the Mavericks, with the final score being 12-5.

The Mavericks got after it in the second inning, with Cody Ulfers leading off the scoring with a single into right field that would score Teddy Petersen.

Minnesota State would score three more runs in the second inning, bringing their lead to 4-0.

The sixth inning was a big one for MSU, as they would score five runs.

The Mavericks were led by their starting pitcher, Carlo Graffeo. In five innings of work, Graffeo struck out seven, while only allowing two hits and one earned run.

Graffeo’s victory brings his record to 2-2 on the season.

After the series sweep of the University of Mary, the Mavs currently have a record of 16-7, including 11-3 in-conference.

The Mavericks will be in action quite a bit this week, as they will travel to Concordia-St. Paul Wednesday and Minnesota Duluth for games on Saturday and Sunday.

Minnesota State won’t play their first actual home game at Bowyer Field until April 14, when they host Bemidji State. Until then, you can watch all of the Maverick baseball games online on the MSU baseball team page.