Minnesota Crookston upsets Mavs at home
The Minnesota State men’s baseball team’s seven-game series winning streak came to an end over the weekend after being defeated twice at home by the Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles won the series 2-1, beating the Mavs in both games Saturday. The Mavs took game three Sunday winning 8-5 in an eighth-inning comeback.
After the series defeat, the Mavs hold a 25-14 overall record and a 21-8 conference record which keeps them second in the NSIC one win above St. Cloud State. The Mavericks’ series winning streak dated back to March 9th.
Crookston rose to fourth in the conference after their series win, holding a 25-13 overall record and 19-9 conference record.
The Mavs started game one Saturday on fire with Louis Magers and Ryan Wickman smashing solo home runs to give the Mavs an early 2-0 lead going into the third inning.
But then the Mavericks went cold. They were unable to hold the lead and went cold, going scoreless for the rest of the game. Danny Wensloff scored for Minnesota Crookston in the top of the third to bring the game within reach.
Wensloff and Mitch Goodwin settled it for the Golden Eagles in the fifth inning giving them a 3-2 lead. The rest of the game ended with no teams scoring.
The Mavs cold streak carried into game two as the Mavs faced a 7-0 deficit after the first four innings. The Mavs built momentum in the fourth inning putting up five hits which resulted in four runs. The Mavs were unable to build on the momentum going scoreless the rest of the game along with Golden Eagles which resulted in a 8-4 loss for the Mavs.
Game three Sunday was more of the same for the Mavs as they yet again started the game cold and unable to score. The Mavs were down 5-0 after four innings, managing only four hits through seven innings against the Golden Eagles starting pitcher Brody Sorenson.
The Mavs turned their fortunes around and came out firing in the eighth scoring eight runs for the second time this season for the comeback win.
Aidan Byrne, Zach Stroch and Ryan Friedges opened up the inning for the Mavs working two walks and loading the bases for Wickman who flied out to the left fielder providing the Mavericks’ first run of the inning.
Spencer Wright finished the game for the Mavs, closing out the Golden Eagles earning his fifth win of the season.
“Impressive come-from-behind win against a very good team. We were down but not out,” head coach Matt Magers stated. “Our bullpen was able to provide five shutdown innings allowing for our offense to go to work to pull off the win.”
The Mavs are back in action Tuesday at home to host Northwestern College.
Header Photo: The Mavericks and Golden Eagles both entered the series off of mid week games. The Mavs split their series against the University of Sioux Falls Wednesday losing game one 5-3, but winning game two 10-4. (Courtesy Maverick Athletics)
Write to Ahmed Hassan at ahmed.hassan.4@mnsu.edu