WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Third-seed Minnesota State (38-8) opened the NCAA DII Baseball Central Regional Tournament with a 9-8 win over fourth-seed Arkansas Tech (28-16), Friday.
Three-run home runs from sophomore Adam Schneider and junior Ben Livorsi were instrumental in the Mavericks' 9-8 victory over the Wonder Boys to open the NCAA DII Central Regional.
The Wonder Boys grabbed the game's first lead in the opening frame. Evan Hafley provided a solo home run to right in the game's second at bat that made it 1-0 after the first inning in favor of ATU.
ATU extended its lead in the third inning when Matt Robbins doubled to the leftfield corner and scored Joe Morin to make it a 2-0 Wonder Boy lead.
MSU got on the board in the third when Schneider hit his sixth home run of the season. The three-run home run, which drove in Joey Werner and Jack Waletich, gave MSU a one-run lead, 3-2.
Livorsi put a ball in play in the fourth that resulted in an error on the ATU second baseman which allowed Ross Indlecoffer to score. Then, Waletich flew out deep down the leftfield line to score Nick Altermatt on a sacrifice fly which gave MSU a 5-2 lead through four frames.
Garrett Crews shrunk the deficit to one with a solo home run that snuck around the leftfield foul pole in the fifth inning. Then, the Wonder Boys tied the game on a sacrifice squeeze bunt play which was laid down by Kandon Bennett to even the score at 5-5.
In the sixth, sophomore Jack Friedges scored on a passed ball to help the Mavericks reclaim the lead, 6-5.
After ATU got one run back as a result of a balk in the seventh, Livorsi continued to swing a hot bat in the bottom half by hitting his seventh home run of the season, a three-run homer, to put MSU up 9-6.
The Wonder Boys mounted a ninth-inning rally that saw Hafley hit his second home run of the afternoon for two more runs, but it was not enough as the Mavericks held on to win the first game of the regional, 9-8.
Mavericks' right-handed pitcher Collin Denk saw his 11th start of the season result in his first no-decision of the year. Denk threw five innings allowing seven hits for four runs. In relief, senior right-handed pitcher Jon Ludwig got the win to move to 8-2 on the season. Ludwig worked in the sixth, seventh and eighth frames allowing four hits for a pair of runs (one earned) while walking and striking out two. Despite allowing a two-run home run in the ninth, senior right-hander Hunter Even earned his 10th save of the season with one strikeout.
For the Wonder Boys, right-handed Nick Kovar was the pitcher of record in relief for ATU. He moved to 1-2 this season after coming in to pitch out of a sixth-inning jam before working into the seventh. He worked in 1.1 innings, giving up two hits and three runs (two earned). ATU's starting arm was Patrick Miner, who pitched five innings and surrendered six runs (three earned) on six hits. He struck out a pair and walked four in the no-decision.
Tomorrow, the Mavericks will take on the winner of tonight's Augustana/Southern Arkansas game. The first pitch for the second-round matchup will go out at 7 p.m., Saturday.
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