St. Cloud, Minn. --- Top-seeded Minnesota State baseball defeated third-seeded St. Cloud State 4-2 on Saturday at Joe Faber Field to claim its fifth Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference title and an automatic qualifier into the 2017 NCAA DII Regional next week.
 
With the win over St. Cloud State (39-16), Minnesota State (44-9) completed an undefeated run (4-0) in the 2017 NSIC Baseball Tournament. It is the first NSIC Tournament championship for the Mavericks since 2014. The Mavericks will return to the diamond in the NCAA DII Regional, which is scheduled for May 18-21. Minnesota State will find out its seeding and the location of the upcoming games during the NCAA DII Baseball Selection Show, which will be aired on NCAA.com at 9:00 p.m. CDT on Sunday.  
 
Junior right-hander NIck Belzer (6-1), who was named to the 2017 NSIC Baseball All-Tournament Team, held the Huskies to two earned runs on four hits over 7 1/3 innings. Belzer struck out six and walked one. For the third game in the NSIC Tournament, junior right-hander Ricky Digrugilliers came out of the bullpen to close out the win. Digrugilliers earned his first save of the season with 1 2/3 no-hit innings to finish the game.
 
The Maverick offense, which out-hit the Huskies 10-4, scored one run in the second inning, one in the fifth and two in the seventh to provide the Maverick pitching staff with the run support it needed.
 
Junior shortstop Luke Waldek, the 2017 NSIC Baseball Tournament MVP, drove in the first Maverick run on a single in the second inning. Junior first baseman Dylan Dresel drove in single runs in both the fifth and seventh innings on a sacrifice fly and double, respectively. The fourth Maverick run was driven in by sophomore right fielder Jordan Hart in the seventh.       
 
Waldek and Belzer were joined on the all-tournament team by junior right-hander Dalton Roach, junior left-hander Brody Rodning, and junior outfielder Josh Wenzel.   
 
Shannon Ahern (2-3) was the losing pitcher for St. Cloud State. He allowed all four runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. Ahern walked one and struck out five.

View head coach Matt Magers' and juniors NIck Belzer and Luke Waldek's postgame interviews with Katie Emmer below.