MANKATO, Minn. -- Rated 13th in this week's NCBWA Division II Poll, Minnesota State (34-7) upended Sioux Falls (21-21) 10-6 to finish off a two-game sweep over the Cougars in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Baseball Tournament, Friday at Bowyer Field.
The Mavericks 34th win of the season marked head coach Matt Magers' 500th career win. The MSU skipper reached the 500-win plateau in his 658th career game during his 13th season at the helm of the program.
Freshman third baseman Adam Schneider sported a big bat for the Mavericks going 2-for-3 with six RBI and two runs scored, including a three-run home run in Friday's game.
Schneider drove in the game's first run with a fielder's choice RBI when he scored Teddy Petersen from third. After the first inning, MSU led USF 1-0.
In the third inning, the Mavericks extended their lead to 5-0 with senior Ross Indlecoffer hitting an RBI single before Schneider hit his fifth home of the season to right field for three more runs
The fourth inning saw the Cougars get a run back on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.
USF inched closer with a three-run fifth inning that concluded with a two-run home run from Ryan Bernardy. After five innings, MSU was holding a 5-4 lead.
A bases-loaded walk to Schneider in the sixth made it a 6-4 game before, two innings later, MSU rallied off a four-run four-hit eighth inning that featured Schneider, Mitch Frederick and Jack Friedges with RBI singles. After eight innings, MSU was out in front with a six-run lead 10-4.
The Cougars mounted a ninth-inning rally and scored two runs on a double down the rightfield line by Trey Hubers, but failed to plate any other runs and the Mavericks claimed a 10-6 victory to advance in the NSIC Baseball Tournament.
The hits battle finished in favor of MSU 13-6 while both sides had three errors in the final game of the series.
Junior right-handed pitcher Brendan Knoll moved to 8-0 this season in his seventh start of the season. He threw five frames allowing four hits and four runs while walking a pair. In relief, sophomore right-handed pitcher Jack Zigan worked the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and gave up one hit and no runs. He walked one and struck out two others. Senior right-hander Hunter Even pitched the ninth, allowed a hit and two runs (both unearned), walked two and struck out another.
For the Cougars, right-handed pitcher Andrew Maslowski fell to 5-4 in the 2021 campaign. As USF's starter, Maslowski surrendered six hits for five runs (four earned) while walking one and striking out another.
Minnesota State will make its way to Sioux Falls, S.D., this week for the final round of the NSIC Baseball Tournament. The event will be a four-team double-elimination tournament from Wednesday, May 19 to Friday, May 21. In its first game, MSU will matchup with Minnesota Crookston Wednesday at noon.
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