On Tap: The Minnesota State baseball program looks to add six more wins to their 27-14 (18-9 NSIC) record in 2016 with a double header scheduled for Wednesday, May 4, against Wayne State in Mankato, Minn., followed by a four-game series at home against the University of Sioux Falls on Friday and Saturday

Last Time on the Diamond:  Last week, Minnesota State split with the Northern State Wolves on Thursday, April 28, winning their first game 10-0 before losing the second by a score of 3-2. Following their split in Aberdeen, S.D., the Mavericks captured a four-game sweep at Winona State on Saturday and Sunday, out scoring the Warriors 17-3.

In game one of the series at Northern State, the Maverick offense came out on the charge scoring five in the top of the first inning.  Contributing to the five run inning for the Mavericks was freshman Jordan Hart who hit his fifth home run of the season for two runs batted in.

The Mavericks tallied five more runs over the course of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings en route to the 10-0 win. 

Starting pitcher Dalton Roach went the distance in throwing seven innings and increasing his record to 4-3 on the year.. The sophomore recorded a career-high 13 strike outs in his second shutout victory of the season.

Hart led the offense in going 4-4 with double and home run.  He also batted in three runs while scoring two himself.  Junior Eric Peterson also recorded three RBI in going 2-4.  Sophomore Luke Waldek, senior Kyle Toth, and sophomore Josh Wenzel also generated two hits in the affair while senior Chase Lonetti tabbed a career-high three hits.

Game two flipped the script as the Wolves took home the 3-2 victory in the nine-inning contest.  The Wolves scored two in the bottom half of the second inning and one in the bottom of the fourth before Minnesota State tacked on two in the eighth.  The Maverick's push near the end of the game was not enough as the Wolves out hit them by a clip of 8-5 in earning the split.

Junior Mitchell Bauer threw seven innings in taking the loss and moving his record to 4-3 on the year.  Bauer gave up one earned run in the contest while striking out six and allowing seven hits.

Minnesota State followed up with a four-game sweep of the Warriors at Winona State. 

In game one, Minnesota State held on to a 1-0 lead the top of the second inning all the way to the sixth where they pushed across five more illuminated by Branstad's two-RBI single through the right side.  

Sophomore Brody Rodning garnered his team-leading fifth win of the season and improved his record to 5-1 on the year.  The lefty threw 6.2 innings with seven strike outs and three hits allowed.

The Warriors took the lead in the bottom of the third with one run, but it was the Mavericks who took game two after it was suspended due to rain and was resumed on Sunday.  After the rain suspension, the Mavericks hammered out two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings and one more in the top of the seventh for insurance.

Redshirt freshman Jon Ludwig claimed his second victory of the season in the third game of the series in throwing four of the seven innings up play and moving his record to 2-2 on the year while senior Peter Gaustad tallied his third save of the year throwing the last three.  Ludwig gave up one run on three hits while striking out four. Gaustad also allowed three hits while fanning two.  

At the plate, Toth, Waldek, and sophomore Ryan Moffett all collected two hits with Toth recording three RBI and one run, Waldek generating one run and one batted in, and Moffett producing two runs.

The Mavericks out scored the Warriors 6-2 in the final two games, having held the lead over the course of those 14 innings.  Hart, Moffett and sophomore Dylan Dresel all homered in the second game to win 4-1.  

Junior Josh Matheson increased his  record to 4-0 in game three throwing 5.1 innings and striking out three with one earned run allowed on six hits.  Senior Dakota Belter picked up his first of two saves on the day throwing 1.2 innings.  

In the fourth game of the series, redshirt freshman Daniel Feneis earned his second win of the season in moving his record to 2-0 throwing a career-high five innings and a career-high four strike outs. 

Looking at the Wildcats: Most recently, Wayne State swept a four-game series over Southwest Minnesota State that had been moved to Alexandria, Minn. The Wildcats out scored the Mustangs by a combined score of 44-23. Wayne State now has a record of 13-24 on the year and sit at 10-11 in the conference, good for the ninth spot in the Northern Sun.

Head coach Alex Koch is in his second season at the helm of the Wildcat program and has amassed a 40-48  (32-25 NSIC) record during his time in charge.  

Aaron Krier is leading the Wildcat lineup batting .429  with  a .701 slugging percentage in 28 games played.  On the mound, Mitch Regan is leading the staff with a 4.47 earned run average with a 3-2 record in a team-leading 44.1 innings pitched.

Last Match Up: In the two games these two teams played, the Mavericks defeated the Wildcats in Wayne, Neb.,  scoring 10 runs in both games.  WSU was able to knock in a couple runs in the first game before getting shutout 10-0 in game two.

Surveying the Cougars: This past weekend, the University of Sioux Falls Cougars split a four-game series with Concordia-St. Paul, winning the second games 6-5 and 1-0 after their 5-0 and 3-2 losses.

Head Coach Matt Guiliano is in his ninth season leading the Cougar program.  In his time he has culminated a record of 175-228.  

Josh Rehwaldt is leading the Cougar lineup with  .394 batting average along with 36 runs batted in and 36 scored. Meanwhile, Dylan Gavin is leading the Cougar staff with a 4.08 ERA and a, 8-0 record on the year.

The Cougars are now 19-24-1 on the year with a 12-14-1 record in NSIC play.  USF is now sitting in eighth in the Northern Sun and play Augustana at home on Wednesday before taking on Minnesota State on Friday and Saturday.

Last Match Up: The Mavericks beat USF in all four match ups last season by marks of 9-3, 13-0, 3-1, and 15-2 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Leading the Herd: Leading the Mavericks at the plate is junior Eric Peterson who is batting .367 in starting all 41 games in at third base. Peterson also leads the team with a .505 on base percentage and 51 runs scored while ranking third with a .532 slugging percentage, fourth with 51 hits and fifth with 30 RBI.

Dresel leads the team and the conference with 310 putouts while boasting a .994 fielding percentage. Toth leads the team and ranks third in the NSIC with 133 assists.  As a team, Minnesota State ranks second in the conference with 36 double plays turned, and sixth with 1412 chances, while culminating a .961 overall fielding percentage.
 
On the mound, sophomore Dalton Roach and junior Mitchell Bauer rank in the top -five in the conference with 3.06 and 3.51 ERAs, respectively.  Both sophomore Brody Rodning and Roach lead the NSIC in strike outs with 67 and 60, while Rodning leads the squad with a 5-1 record.

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 333-100 (.778) 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 .356 against left-handed pitchers while the lineup is hitting .296 vs. right handers.  Pitching-wise, the Maverick staff is dealing a .233 batting average to left-handed hitters vs. a .283 batting average to right-handed hitters.

Runners On vs. Empty Pond: The Mavericks are batting .305 with runners on base while batting .323 when the bases are empty.

Ducks On the Pond: Minnesota State is hitting .318 with runners in scoring position while the pitching staff is serving up a .250 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. Peterson and has the highest-current streak of four games while he and Waldek have reached base in each of the last 13 and 12 games.

Get 'Em In: The Mavericks are batting a solid .661 with runners on third and less than two outs.

What Lies Ahead:  After finalizing the regular season with this week's games, the Mavericks will head into the NSIC Post-Season Tournament when the top-eight teams in the conference with square off next week in St. Cloud, Minn., with dates and times that have yet to be determined.


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