St. Cloud, Minn. --- Senior right-hander Mitchell Bauer pitched seven innings, and five different batters drove in a run for top-seeded Minnesota State, in a 6-3 win over third-seeded St. Cloud State in the 2017 NSIC Baseball Tournament semifinal game on Friday afternoon at Joe Faber Field.
With the win, the Mavericks (43-9) advance to the tournament championship game – slated for noon on Saturday at Faber Field. Minnesota State will face the winner of an elimination game between sixth-seeded Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State (38-15). If the Mavericks do not prevail in the first game on Saturday, an if-necessary game will be played approximately 45 minutes after the first game to determine the tournament champion.
The day after Minnesota State played an 11-inning game, Bauer (8-0) completed seven innings on the mound – limiting the St. Cloud State offense to two earned runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out four. With the performance, Bauer lower his season ERA to 2.78 and he eclipsed 80 innings pitched (81) in a season for the first time in his career. Bauer, who made his sixth start of at least seven innings this season, is ninth in program history with 204-career innings pitched.
Five different Mavericks drove in runs to provide Bauer with the offensive support to get the win.
Junior shortstop Luke Waldek put the Mavericks up 1-0 with a single to center field in the bottom of the fourth.
After the Huskies took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth, junior first baseman Dylan Dresel and junior center fielder Josh Wenzel garnered an RBI single and an RBI double, respectively, to put the Mavericks up 3-2 in the bottom half of the inning.
The Mavericks capped off their scoring with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 6-2. Senior third baseman Eric Peterson drove in two runs on a double to right-center field and sophomore right fielder Jordan Hart tallied an RBI single to right field.
For the second consecutive day, junior right-hander Ricky Digrugilliers finished the game out of the bullpen. The Huskies got one run off of Digrugilliers in the top of the eighth, but he closed the door on St. Cloud State to secure the 6-3 win.
Sophomore left fielder Tyler Berg led all players with a game-high three hits. Wenzel, who tallied two hits, joined Berg as the only Mavericks to tally multiple hits on the day.
Peterson, who played in his 205th career game to tie with Connor McCallum (2012-15) for the fourth-highest total in program history, scored twice to extended his program record for career runs scored to 223. Peterson also moved into ninth place in program history with 129 career RBI.
Zach Siggelkow (4-1), who was charged with the loss, started for the Huskies and surrendered three earned runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
View Minnesota State head coach Matt Magers' and Mitchell Bauer's postgame interview with Jordan Pomputis below.
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