On Tap: The Minnesota State baseball program begins playoff action this week in St. Cloud, Minn., with an NSIC Tournament first-round match up against the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. 

The Mavericks are garnering the four seed heading into the tournament after winning ten straight and completing the regular season with a 33-14 overall record while boasting a 24-9 record against conference opponents.

Last Time on the Diamond:  Last Friday and Saturday, the Mavericks added four wins to their record as they closed out their regular season with a four game sweep over the University of Sioux Falls Cougars. 

With the four wins, MSU cemented their place as the four seed in the NSIC post-season tournament.

In game one of the series against the Cougars, Minnesota State used a walk-off single through the right side from senior Chase Lonetti in the bottom of the ninth inning to win by a 4-3 mark.

The Mavericks scored first in the bottom of the second with Lonetti leading things off with a single and eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly from freshman Jordan Hart to go up 1-0.  

The Cougars responded with a run each of the third and fourth innings before the Mavericks regained the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth.  The two runs featured an RBI double from senior Kyle Toth who also came around to score on a two-out single from sophomore Josh Wenzel.  

Things were evened up in the top of the sixth at three apiece and were ended three innings later with senior Taylor Branstad scoring on Lonetti's single to right

Senior relief pitcher, Dakota Belter claimed the win in throwing two-thirds of the top of the ninth while starter sophomore Brody Rodning threw the first 8.1 innings in giving up two earned runs on six Cougar hits and striking out six.

Wenzel led the Mavericks at the plate with a 4-5 performance and batting in a run while Lonetti went 3-5 claiming a run batted in and one scored.

The Mavericks took game two at a healthy 8-2 score, featuring a 4-4 performance by Lonetti with two runs batted in and a 3-4 outing for sophomore Luke Waldek who counted for a runs scored and hitting in three. 

Junior Josh Matheson increased his record to 5-0 on the season throwing six innings and allowing two earned runs on six hits while fanning two hitters.

The third contest between the two teams spanned two hours and 55 minutes over the seven innings as Minnesota State won the 23-12 game.  

The Cougars seized a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning but quickly gave it up as MSU scored six, including two-run home runs from Toth and sophomore Dylan Dresel in the bottom half.  Minnesota State was able to produce six more runs over the next two innings compared to USF's four, taking a 12-6 lead.  

The Cougars tied the game up at 12 with six runs in the top of the sixth, digging into the Maverick bullpen, but it was Minnesota State who prevailed. 

With 11 runs on nine hits in the bottom half of the sixth, including eight with two outs, the Mavericks were able to come away with their 32nd win of the year.

The Mavericks used five pitchers in the match with freshman starter Daniel Feneis taking most of the load, throwing 3.2 innings in allowing four runs and fanning four batters.  Belter ended up taking the win, throwing just one-third of an inning in improving his record to 6-0 on the year.

At the plate, four Mavericks led the way in Toth, Wenzel, junior Eric Peterson, and Hart accounting for three hits each with Toth scoring five times, and Waldek batting in five runs on a 2-3 performance.

Minnesota State made the clean sweep with their 6-3 win in game four. USF tallied one run in the top of the first, but were countered with one Maverick run in the bottom half and two more in the second. The Mavericks retained the lead the rest of the game though the Cougars were able to make a push in the top of the sixth with two runs after MSU had made it a 4-1 game in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-3.  For good measure, the Mavericks scored another run in each of the seventh and eighth innings to cement the game at 6-3.  

Upping his record to 6-3 on the year was junior Mitchell Bauer who tossed six complete innings in giving up three earned on seven hits and striking out two. Belter committed two innings of relief work in picking up his sixth save of the year.

Looking at the Golden Bears: Most recently, Concordia-St. Paul swept Winona State outscoring the Warriors  44-22 last weekend in a four-game series, finishing their regular season with an over all record of 27-13 and 20-11 in the NSIC.

Concordia-St. Paul's offense is lead by Connor Olson who is currently hitting .353 on the season leading the team with 40 runs scored and slugging .733 with 38 runs batted in.  The Golden Bears' pitching staff is headed by Kody Knaus who sits 5-1 in eight appearances with a 4.40 ERA in 43 innings pitched while ranking third on the team with 34 strike outs on the year.

Last Match Up: During the regular season, the Mavericks claimed three of four games against the Golden Bears, having lost the last game of the series 5-4. Minnesota State outscored CSP 33-15 in the series.

Minnesota State History: The 2016 season marks the 76th for Maverick baseball. MSU owns a 1,698-849-7 (.666) all-time record in 2,554 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.

Leading the Herd: Leading the Mavericks at the plate is junior Eric Peterson who is batting .370 in starting all 47 games in at third base. Peterson also leads the team with a .493 on base percentage and 58 runs scored while ranking third with a .532 slugging percentage, tied for third with 60 hits and tied for first with 12 steals.

Dresel leads the team and the conference with 351 putouts while boasting a .992 fielding percentage. Waldek and Toth lead the team and rank sixth and seventh, respectively in the NSIC with 110 and 109 assists.  As a team, Minnesota State ranks third in the conference with 38 double plays turned, and sixth with 1,600 chances, while culminating a .963 overall fielding percentage.
 
On the mound, sophomore Dalton Roach, junior Mitchell Bauer, and sophomore Brody Rodning rank fourth, fifth and sixth in the conference with ERAs of 3.88, 3.98 and 4.00, respectively.  Both Rodning and Roach lead the NSIC in strike outs with 73 and 68, Minnesota State leads the league with a team ERA of 4.14

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. The Gaylord, Minn., native has produced a 339-100 (.781) 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 has recorded eight 40-or-more-win seasons in its 76 seasons of competition, including 51 wins in 2012. Six of those seasons have come under the watch of head coach Matt Magers. 

Left-Right: MSU is batting .362 against left-handed pitchers while the lineup is hitting .305 vs. right handers.  Pitching-wise, the Maverick staff is dealing a .237 batting average to left-handed hitters vs. a .281 batting average to right-handed hitters.

Runners On vs. Empty Pond: The Mavericks are batting .318 with runners on base while batting .328 when the bases are empty.

Ducks On the Pond: Minnesota State is hitting .326 with runners in scoring position while the pitching staff is serving up a .259 average to opposing hitters when there are runners in scoring position.

Streaking: In the first 22 games of the season Eric Peterson had reached base and at one point rode a team-high 12-game hitting streak. Lonetti has the highest-current hitting streak of seven games while Peterson has reached base in each of the last 10 games.

Get 'Em In: The Mavericks are batting a solid .672 with runners on third and less than two outs.

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.

NSIC Honors: Left-handed pitcher Brody Rodning garnered All-NSIC First Team honors for the second-consecutive year while short-stop Luke Waldek was recognized on the All-NSIC Second Team.  Outfielders Chase Lonetti and Josh Wenzel were also selected as NSIC Gold Glove Members.

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:  The Mavericks are currently ranked sixth in the latest NCAA Division II Central Region Poll, moving up two spots from the previous edition.

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 first-round game against CSP, depending on whether they win or lose, the Mavericks will play either the winner or loser of  Minnesota Duluth and the University of Sioux Falls.  If Minnesota State wins their first game, they will play next on Thursday, May 12 at 12:00 p.m., if they drop their first game, they will play Wednesday night, May 11 at 7:00 p.m.

To view the full release, click HERE. 
To view the 2016 NSIC Tournament Bracket, click HERE.