Baseball walks-off, drop second game of doubleheader

After a Jordan Hart walk-off sac-fly in game one, the team dropped game two

Kevin Korbel
Sports Editor

After the set of games was rescheduled to Tuesday at Franklin Rogers Park, the Minnesota State Mavericks faced off against the Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles in a two-game doubleheader in Mankato, Minnesota.

In the first game, the Golden Eagles got on the board quickly against the Mavericks after loading up the bases in the first inning.

After sophomore designated hitter Travis Conoryea was hit by a pitch to drive in the game’s first run, junior third baseman Scott Finberg belted a grand slam over the left field fence to put UMC up 5-0.

The Mavericks were able to battle back in the bottom half of the inning, putting up three runs of their own.

The Mavericks then put up another three runs on the scoreboard after a pair of doubles by freshman Mitch Frederick and junior Teddy Petersen started the inning, scoring the first run in the bottom half of the inning. 

Senior catcher Tom Imholte followed up with an RBI single to cut the Golden Eagles’ lead in half to 6-5. 

The Mavericks would later tie the game after freshman infielder Carter Eliiott grounded into a double play to score Imholte, to tie the game up at 6-6.

The game went into extra innings as no runs were scored for the next eight innings. It wasn’t until the top of the 11th inning when UMC brought in a run with a single to left field off the bat of sophomore right fielder Brock Reller, giving the Golden Eagles a 7-6 lead late in the game.

The Mavericks answered back in the bottom of the inning when Altermatt took a free base via a walk with the bases loaded to even the score at seven. The Mavericks finished off the comeback in the 12th inning, beginning with Denzer hit a triple to deep right center field with one out. 

Then Berg lifted a sacrifice fly to center field and brought in the winning run for the 8-7 win.

Game two proved to be more of a pitching duel between the two teams, as neither team had scored through the first two innings of the game.

The Mavericks trailed the Golden Eagles 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Frederick slapped a single into right field to start a one-out rally for the Mavericks. With two outs, Imholte drove Frederick in for an RBI, decreasing the Golden Eagle lead to just one run. 

However, the Maverick comeback efforts would go for none as the Mavericks fell to the Golden Eagles by a final score of 4-3.

Up next, the Minnesota State Mavericks will play the Bemidji State Beavers in a four-game, two-day series this weekend at Bowyer Field in Mankato, after the initial plans of playing in Bemidji were scrapped due to poor playing conditions in the town. Game times are slated for noon and 2 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

Header photo courtesy of Maverick Athletics.