ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Minnesota State split its Saturday doubleheader at Missouri - St. Louis with a 3-2 loss and 10-2 victory over the Tritons to take a two games to one advantage in the four-game series.
Offensively, senior infielder Teddy Petersen was a force for the Mavericks Saturday. The right-handed hitter went 3-for-7 with four RBI. He had an RBI single in game one followed up by a solo home run and two-RBI triple in game two.
GAME ONE | Missouri - St. Louis 3, Minnesota State 2 (Eight Innings)
In the second inning of the first game, the Tritons struck first with a single to center from Clayton Stephens that scored John Hilpert. Later in the inning, Bryce Kulinski singled to left to score Josh Shoemaker. UMSL held a two-run advantage after the second inning.
The Mavericks battled back by cutting the deficit in half, 2-1, in the fifth when senior infielder Teddy Petersen singled to right to drive in freshman Adam Schneider.
Then in the sixth inning, Ross Indlecoffer tied the game, 2-2, with an RBI single to center that scored junior catcher Ben Livorsi.
The game required extra innings after the seventh to declare a winner. UMSL capitalized in the eighth with a walk-off single hit by Leighton Keller that drove in Stephens and seal the first game with a 3-2 decision in favor of UMSL.
Earning the win was Jack Rhodes (1-0) who entered the game as a reliever in the sixth inning and continued on through the end going 2.2 innings, allowing a pair of hits, walking two and striking out three others.
For Minnesota State junior Cam Kline (0-1) was the recipient of the loss. The right-handed pitcher remained on the hill for all 7.1 innings while surrendering three earned runs on six hits while walking one and striking out seven.
GAME TWO | Minnesota State 10, Missouri - St. Louis 2
The Mavericks struck first in the second game with a five-run first inning. It started with Ty Denzer singling to score Mitch Frederick in unearned fashion after UMSL errors led Frederick and Denzer around the bases for a 2-0 MSU lead. In the next at bat, Petersen got around on a pitch and pulled it down the line for his first home run since 2019. Scoring rounded out at 5-0 when Jack Waletich put a ball in play that led to more UMSL miscues in the field which allowed Indlecoffer and Joey Werner free passes to score. In the bottom half, UMSL answered with one run that made it 5-1 when Carson Holin singled to center and scored Jared Bryant.
In the fourth, the Mavericks executed a perfect steal-and-score strategy when Denzer swiped second, Kline made a dash home from third and slid head-first into the plate safely to make it 6-1 MSU.
By grounding out into a double play, Nick Altermatt got his name on the scoresheet as it was enough to score Indlecoffer for his second run of the game.
In the sixth, Petersen launched a line drive into the left-center field gap for a triple that scored Kline. Then, Schneider grounded out to record an RBI, scoring Petersen from third to make it 10-1.
Although the Tritons got one more run across in the bottom of the seventh, the Mavericks held on to secure the third game of the weekend series, 10-2.
The winning pitcher was MSU's Collin Denk (1-0). The Lakeville, Minn., native threw five complete innings in his first start of the season while allowing one unearned run on two hits. The Maverick right-hander struck out six and never surrendered a walk to any of the 18 UMSL batters he faced.
For the Tritons, Justin Evers, now 0-1 this season, worked three innings while allowing six runs (three earned) on five hits. He also struck out three and walked one.
Tomorrow, the Mavericks and Tritons matchup one last time for the fourth and final game of the weekend series with a noon first pitch at UMSL Baseball Field.
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