On Tap: The Minnesota State baseball program, now 8-5 on the 2016 season, will open their home schedule this Tuesday with a one nine-inning game against the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings and two double headers on Friday and Saturday against Minnesota Duluth at the MSU Baseball Complex. First pitch for the match up against BLC is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start on Tuesday and a 1:30 p.m. start on the 25th vs. UMD.

Last Time on the Diamond:  The Mavericks finished up their annual Spring Trip to Florida just under two weeks ago on March 10 as they played 10 games in a span of eight days. Minnesota State forged a record of 5-5 while down in the Sunshine State.

On March 3rd, the opening day of their trip, the Mavericks dropped two games to the hosting Embry-Riddle Eagles.  

In game one, MSU took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning where the Eagle were able to even things up with a two-run homer followed by a six-run bottom of the sixth inning.  The Mavericks battled back with three runs in the top of the seventh and predetermined-final inning, but was not enough as starting pitcher, sophomore Dalton Roach took the loss while  senior Kyle Toth homered in the top of the third inning and scored three runs to lead Minnesota State's offense in game one. 

MSU took the game's first lead in game two of the twinbill and a 5-1 lead into the top of the sixth inning but gave up four runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings, which forced extras at a score at 5-5.  The Eagles shutdown the Maverick offense in the top of the 10th and ended things in the bottom half of the inning with a walk-off homerun to take two victories on the day.  Junior reliever Trevor Patterson took the loss on the hill for the Mavericks while senior Chase Lonetti, junior Eric Peterson, and sophomore Dylan Dresel all had two hits apiece to lead the offense.

Minnesota State bounced back the next day with a 7-5 win over the Eagles sophomore left-hander Aaron Rozek collecting his first win on the year and senior reliever Peter Gaustad picking up his first save of 2016 for the Mavericks.  Leading the charge for MSU at the plate was Dresel and Toth scoring two runs and knocking two hits each.

On day three, the Mavericks won their second game of the trip with a 9-4 trouncing over Ohio Dominican University.  Junior starter Mitchell Bauer claimed his first win with five strike outs in five innings and giving up three runs on four Panther hits. Six batters drilled two hits apiece with senior Taylor Branstad batting two runs and scoring two himself with a homerun while sophomore Luke Waldek also plated two runs and scored one himself.

Minnesota State dropped its third game of the trip with 12-6 loss to Florida Southern at the Moccasin's home field  on day four.  Florida Southern jumped to an 8-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning as they got to Minnesota State's starting pitcher sophomore Christian Howell who dropped his first decision of the season.  The Mavericks chipped away scoring four runs over the next four innings but that wasn't nearly enough as the Moccasins would outscore the Mavericks 4-2 in the final four innings.  Offensively Toth and sophomore Josh Wenzel each had two hits while Waldek collected two RBI while Dresel tallied two runs himself.

The Mavericks dropped their next game by a score of 16-11 to Northwood University.  The Timberwolves tacked on 10 runs to MSU's seven in the first five innings.  Starting pitcher Brody Rodning took his first loss of the season moving to 1-1. Over the course of the last four innings, the Mavericks were outscored 5-4.  Branstad and Dresel led MSU at the plate with three hits each while Dresel hit two over the wall in collecting four RBI while Branstad had two. 

The Mavericks won three of their last four games over Walsh University, Ashland University, and Grand Valley State outscoring their opponents 32-13 in those four games.  Peterson tabbed seven hits over those last for games for a total of 16 in their 10 games in Florida, now riding a 10-game hitting streak.  

Scouting the Vikings: Most recently, the Vikings are coming off of a nine-game trip to Arizona in which they forged a record of 1-8 to start the season.  

At the helm of the Viking baseball program, Ryan Kragh is in his 12th season, and 14th as a member of the coaching staff.  Kragh has produced a 226-199 overall record in his time at the head of the program. Offensively, BLC is led by senior infielder Lucas Kruse who is batting .500 in four at bats while junior outfielder Trent Saharek is on his heals batting .467 in 30 at bats with two doubles and one triple collecting seven RBI and six runs. On the hill, junior left-hander Alek Zentzis lead the Vikings with one win on the season an a 3.00 ERA in two starts and fanning eight batters.

Last Matchup: The last time Minnesota State and Bethany Lutheran met was back in 2009 with MSU claiming an 11-5 victory.  The Maverick hold a 4-0 all-time record over the Vikings.

Looking at the Bulldogs: Most recently, the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, claimed a 5-1 record while they were down in Florida for their spring trip, moving to 7-5 on the year.  The Bulldogs played  and beat Ohio Dominican and Walsh University by scores of 5-3 and 9-8 while down in Florida, two teams that Minnesota State met up with and defeated as well by scores of 9-4 and 5-3, respectively.

The Bulldogs are led by Bob Rients who is in his 11th season at the helm of the program, forging a 197-244 record with a 100-86 mark in the NSIC.

Offensively, UMD is led by freshman Tyler Wojciechowski and senior Andrew Wojciechowski who are batting .571 and .440, respectively. On the mound, senior left-hander Spencer Diedrch is leading the staff with a 2.08 ERA and a 1-0 record and a team-leading 10 strikeouts.

Last Matchup: Minnesota State split four games with the Bulldogs last year in Duluth, Minn., winning two games 5-0 and 4-2 and dropping two games 5-1 and 4-3.

Minnesota State History: The 2016 season marks the 76th for Maverick baseball. MSU owns a 1,673-840-7 (.665) all-time record in 2,520 total games. Minnesota State has five Northern Intercollegiate Conference titles (1968, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1981), Nineteen North Central Conference championships (1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2006, 2007) and four Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference crowns (2010, 2011, 2012,2014). The program has 34 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, 2014, 2015) and eight in the NCAA Division II World Series (1971, 1979, 1980, 1986, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014) including third-place finishes in 2012 and 2014 and a national runner-up performance in 2013.   Additionally, 10 Mavericks have been selected as All-Americans.

Quick Hitters (2016): 

• Over all the Mavericks sit at 8-5 on the year after a 5-5 trip to Florida March 3rd through the 10th
• Offensively, MSU is led by junior third  baseman Eric Peterson (.378) who went 16-36 during MSU's spring trip, with eight RBI and scoring 14 himself
• As a team MSU is batting .750 when runners are on third with two outs and .329 in scoring position
• The pitching staff is dealing a .245 batting average to left-handed hitters while allowing a .290 average to right-handed hitters
• MSU has scored 94 runs in the first 13 games on the year, down four from this point last season
• Peterson is riding a 10-game hit streak

Leading the Herd: Junior infielder Eric Peterson is leading the Maverick offense with a .378 batting average through the first 13 games this season with a tie for the team lead in hits with 17 and leading the squad with 17 runs. Senior Taylor Branstad is also tied for the team lead with 17 hits batting .340 and is tied for the team lead in homeruns with sophomore Dylan Dresel with two.
 
On the mound, sophomore Dalton Roach leads the starting corpse with a 4.50 ERA forging a 1-1 record while sophomore Aaron Rozek and junior Mitchell Bauer are off to a 2-0 start.  Senior reliever Peter Guastad has mad a team leading five appearances having not allowed an earned run in his 8.2 innings of work thus far.

Setting the Standard: Minnesota State finished in the top-10 of the NCAA DII circuit in four different categories in the country last season, including a number one ranking in batting average at .355. The Mavericks also finished fourth in win-loss percentage at 82.7%, in a tie for eighth with 621 hits, and in a tie for ninth with a 42% on base percentage. 

Sensational Skipper: Head coach Matt Magers is in his eighth season at the helm of the Mavericks baseball program. Magers has produced a 314-91 (.775) record and now sits in second for all-time wins at Minnesota State behind his predecessor Dean Boyer (1977-2008/ 990 wins). Magers is one of three coaches at MSU who has passed the 200 wins mark (Jean McCarthy: 1964-76/ 250 wins).

40+: Minnesota State as recorded eight 40-or-more-win seasons in its 76 seasons of competition. Six of those seasons have come under the watch of head coach Matt Magers. 

Preseason Prognostications:  Minnesota State was selected to finish second in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll garnering 5 of the 15 first place votes. Nationally, the Mavericks were ranked No. 9 in the NCBWA Preseason poll and were No. 2 in the Central Region poll.

Senior Taylor Branstad and sophomore Dalton Roach were selected to the NSIC Players to Watch List while Branstad garnered NCBWA All-Central Region Preseason Team honors.

Position Breakdown:  The 2016 Minnesota State baseball roster features a total of 18 pitchers. Of the 305.1 innings accumulated by the Mavericks' top-six pitchers last season, five are returning who accounted for 260 IP. MSU's pitching arsenal won't be missing much as the five pitchers who are gone after last season accounted for just five wins in 2015. Of the 18 pitchers on the roster, four of them are southpaws and of the 13 position players on the roster, eight of them are infielders. The Mavericks have four outfielders and will carry six catchers along with two utility players.

Minnesota State in the Polls:  Currently, the Mavericks are ranked 25th in the d2baseballnews poll, are receiving votes in the NCBWA Poll, and ranks 4th in the NCBWA Central Region Poll. 

Welcome to Minnesota State: The Maverick's roster this season features 17 newcomers including 16 freshman on the squad.  Along with 17 fresh faces on the roster, the Mavericks also acquired the assistance of newly-hired Assistant Coach P.J. McIntee.  McIntee joins the program this season after serving as an assistant at Morehead State (Ky.) in 2015, helping  the Eagles claim an Ohio Valley Conference tournament title in 2015.

What Lies Ahead: After the Maverick's five contests this week, Minnesota State will play a four-game set against Bemidji State in Mankato on April 2-3 before traveling to No. 2 St. Cloud State for a double header on April 6.

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