CARY, N.C. --- The Minnesota State baseball squad, ranked #11 in the nation, made its fifth appearance in the 2010 Division II NCAA Championship Tournament in program history against the Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana Sunday.
In their 12th World Series game, the Mavericks suffered their ninth loss all-time at the national tournament by a score of 8-6 and are now 3-9 all-time.
Due to several rains delays that occurred during the course of the day, the game between MSU and USI didn't start until 11:02 p.m and wrapped up at 2:28 a,m.
Once the game got underway and after three scoreless innings, Southern Indiana tallied three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Using four straight singles and a fifth batter hit by a pitch, USI scored the first two runs off of RBI singles and the third on a sacrifice fly to left field.
The Mavericks put one runner across home plate in the bottom of the fourth after junior outfielder Danny Miller hit a lead-off single to left field, advanced to second on a passed ball and third on a fly out to right. He then scored on a muffed throw by the USI second baseman.
Southern Indiana bumped its lead up to 7-1 after a RBI single in the fifth, added a run on an error and a two-run single in the sixth. USI added an eighth run in the top of the ninth, making the score, 8-1.
In the bottom of the ninth, MSU made things interesting, rallying to score fIve runs, but fell short, making the final, 8-6. Junior shortstop Zach Rowles had a two-run single, senior thrid baseman Kosuke Hattori had a RBI single and sophomore outfielder Ben Kincaid tallied a two-run single.
At the plate, MSU was led by junior catcher Steven Helget and sophomore first baseman Matt Odegaard. Helget finished the contest 4-for-4 including a double, while Odegaard finished 3-for-4.
Junior right-handed pitcher Bret Mitchell started his fourteenth game of the year for MSU and is now 10-4 on the year with the loss. The Lakeville, Minn., native pitched 5.1 innings, giving up seven runs (all earned) off of eight hits, walking five and sitting eight batters down on strikes. With his eight punch outs, Mitchell sets a new single-season record for MSU with 108 on the year.
"They had 11 hits and I think six of them were infield hits," said MSU Head Coach Matt Magers. "So they capitalized when they had to. But we battled and had a chance to do something there at the end. We will have to rest up and play better on Tuesday."
Minnesota State falls to 44-15 on the season, while Southern Indiana improves to 49-13. The Mavericks finished with 13 hits, one error and nine batter left on base, while the Screaming Eagles finished with 11 hits, one error and left 14 batters on.
The Mavericks fall to the losers bracket and will face Franklin Pierce, Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. (EST) in an elimination game.
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