Cary, N.C. - Minnesota State (50-11) plays Delta State, who's unbeaten in NCAA Division II College Baseball World Series action, Thursday at 3 p.m., at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
Third Round Recap: Sophomore starting pitcher Jason Hoppe struck out 10 batters in MSU's 6-0 victory against Southern New Hampshire Wednesday afternoon as the Mavericks eliminated the Penmen from tournament action.
This time it was Southern New Hampshire who had the fielding miscues as the Penmen defense committed five errors which led to three uneared runs leading the team to its 50th win of the season.
Second Round Recap: With two outs and the score tied at four in the top of the ninth, senior Matt Odegaard reached base with a single to left field which brought junior Mike Eckhart to the plate.
Down 0-1 in the count, Eckhart proceeded to send a line drive to deep right field for a triple which scored Odegaard for the go-ahead run.
Eckhart scored the Mavericks' sixth run which proved to be the winning run on an infield RBI single by senior Ben Kincaid which was just out of the reach of relief pitcher Mike Botelho.
Opening Round Recap: Minnesota State (48-11) committed five uncommon errors in its opening round loss to Southern New Hampshire as all three runs the Penmen scored were unearned. MSU led 2-0 through five innings until error plagued sixth and seventh innings gave Southern New Hampshire the 3-2 lead where the score would remain.
Hoppe's Run: Wednesday's complete game effort by Hoppe was the third of the season for the sophomore righty while he has struck out 36 batters in his last three starts.
In his last three outings, Hoppe has pitched 27 innings while allowing just three walks and three earned runs in three Maverick victories.
Delta State's Journey: The Statesmen of Delta State are 2-0 in tournament action after earning a 4-1 victory in game one against St. Mary's before defeating Catawba, 6-5.
Who's Left?: We're down to four teams left in the World Series as West Chester and Catawba join Delta State and Minnesota State in the final four.
West Chester and Delta State are undefeated and would have to be beated by its opponents twice in the next two days while Catawba and Minnesota State each have one loss and are eliminated with one more loss.
Winning Streak Snapped: Before the Mavericks' 3-2 loss to Southern New Hampshire, Minnesota State had won 12 of its last 13 games including seven in a row. The team's longest winning streak this season was 11 games which lasted from April 17 through April 30.
Moving up the Charts: Senior second baseman Matt Kuchenbecker is now alone in second place with 20 doubles in a single season. Kuchenbecker was previously tied with three others in second place on the school's all-time single season list.
Who's Going to Get the Seventh?: Three Mavericks are tied for the team lead in triples as senior Pat Dockendorf, junior Lucas Skjefte and Eckhart each have six. Eckhart joined the race on Monday after connecting on a triple to right field to put the Mavericks ahead of Chico State in the ninth inning.
Current Streaks: Odegaard and freshman Nolan Johnson currently lead the team with six-game hitting streaks while Kincaid and Dockendorf have both reached base in 10-consecutive games.
