On Tap: Third-ranked Minnesota State hosts rival and No. 9 St. Cloud State in a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 12:30 p.m., at the MSU Baseball Complex in the Mavericks' only action this week. Both teams enter the twinbill as two of the top-three teams in the league sporting just four losses each in conference play.
 
Last Time on the Diamond:  The Purple and Gold stretched its season-high winning streak to 11 games with a mid-week home sweep of Bemidji State and four-game series sweep at Northern State a week ago.
 
MSU dispatched the Beavers with a 7-4 win and an 8-0 triumph last Tuesday as junior Nolan Johnson (Bloomington, Minn.) registered two extra-base hits and three RBI in game two, while sophomore righthander Josh Matheson (Centennial, Minn.) struck out five over 5.1 scoreless innings to earn his first win of the season.
 
The Mavericks carried that momentum into a Friday-Saturday series with the Wolves in Aberdeen, S.D. MSU scored six runs in each game Friday sweeping NSU by margins of 6-2 and 6-1. Junior Max Waletich (Fairmont, Minn.) collected four hits and a trio of RBI in the first game as senior righthander Jason Hoppe (Rice, Minn.) improved to 8-1 with his fourth complete game. Senior righthander Bryce Bellin (Kimberly, Wis.) matched a career-best nine strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball in game two. Last Saturday, the Mavericks manhandled the Wolves outscoring NSU 31-5 en route to a sweep with wins of 18-3 and 13-2. Senior Stetson Olson (Renton, Wash.) racked up six hits and eight RBI on the day, while senior Todd Standish (Brookings, S.D.) tallied five hits, five RBI and nine runs.
 
A Look at the Huskies: St. Cloud State stands 28-7 overall and 16-4 in conference play after winning three of four contests in a series at Upper Iowa last weekend. The Huskies are batting .352 as a team and averaging 7.7 runs per game with 10 individuals batting over .300 led by sophomore Reese Gregory (IF/P, 6-0, 195, St. Cloud, Minn.) who is hitting .474 with a home run, five doubles, eight runs and 15 RBI. Junior Eric Loxtercamp (OF, 5-10, 175, Cold Spring, Minn.) is hitting .392 with a team-high 12 doubles and 42 runs scored in addition to 33 RBI. SCSU holds a 2.65 team earned run average and has surrendered a .227 opponent batting average to date. Senior Chris Kubitz (LHP, 6-6, 212, Shakopee, Minn.) stands 4-2 with a 1.69 ERA and 50 strikeouts over 42.2 innings, while Gregory has totaled five saves and a 7-1 ledger with a 0.50 ERA out of the bullpen.
 
Inside the MSU-SCSU Series:  The Mavericks stand 89-52 all-time against the Huskies after going 2-0 versus SCSU last season. MSU topped St. Cloud State ,4-3, to knock the Huskies into the loser's bracket in last year's NCAA Central Region tournament before claiming a 17-1 victory to advance to the NCAA DII College World Series for the third time in the last four seasons.
 
Minnesota State History: The 2014 season marks the 74th for Maverick baseball. MSU owns a 1,614-820-7 (.663) all-time record in 2,441 total games. Minnesota State has five Northern Intercollegiate Conference titles (1968, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1981), 19 North Central Conference championships (1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2006, 2007) and three Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference crowns (2010, 2011, 2012). The program has 32 appearances in the NCAA Division II National Tournament (1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and seven in the NCAA Division II World Series (1971, 1979, 1980, 1986, 2010, 2012, 2013) including a third-place finish in 2012 and national runner-up performance in 2013.
 
Additionally, seven Mavericks have been selected All-Americans.

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