WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- After rallying late in the first of two games Sunday to advance to the regional semi-final, third-seed Minnesota State (39-10) saw its season come to a close with another loss to fifth-seed Southern Arkansas (30-15).
After scoring five runs facing elimination late in game one, the Mavericks prevailed to edge the Reddies 7-4. The evening game saw MSU drop their second and final game of the tournament to SAU 5-1 and finish the season in the regional semi-final game.
FIRST GAME | Minnesota State 7, Henderson State 4
Kaden Argenbright opened the scoring in the top of the first with a double that reached the wall in left-center and put the Reddies up 1-0.
Then, HSU's Alec Lewis singled to left field and scored two runs to up the Reddies lead to 3-0. The Mavericks then came within one, trailing 3-2, after Nick Altermatt hit a sacrifice fly and Ty Denzer hit an RBI single to left in the bottom half of the third.
The Mavericks turned the game around in the eighth with junior catcher Ben Livorsi hitting a ball deep enough to center to score Altermatt which made it a 3-3 game. In a pinch-hit appearance, Hunter Ranweiler gave MSU the lead with an RBI single to center that scored Denzer. senior outfielder Joey Werner had the back-breaker, hitting a three-run home run off the batter's eye to give MSU a 7-3 lead.
HSU rallied in the ninth and came within three, 7-4, but senior reliever Hunter Even held on to secure the win with a strikeout against the potential tying run.
HSU outhit MSU 11-8 while the Mavericks had a pair of errors to the Reddies one miscue in the field. HSU left more runners on base in the elimination affair with 11 while MSU left eight runners on.
Mavericks starting pitcher right-hander Brendan Knoll worked a no-decision in the first game. He threw into the eighth inning allowing eight hits and three runs while walking a pair and striking out six. In relief of Knoll, Even finished the game, pitching the eighth and ninth, giving up three hits and one solo home run in the ninth. He walked one and struck out two and moved to a 2-0 record with the win.
The starting arm for the Reddies was Austin Cross. Cross pitched into the eighth inning while giving up two hits and two runs (one earned), walking four and striking out one. Handed the loss in relief was Ethan Perry who went four complete frames with four hits against, two runs, a walk and four strikeouts to fall to a 5-4 record on the season.
SECOND GAME | Southern Arkansas 5, Minnesota State 1
Werner hit his second home run of the day in the sixth inning of the second game to put the Mavericks up 1-0. Tucker Burton answered, giving the Muleriders a 3-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out bases-loaded double to the rightfield corner. After the sixth inning, SAU led MSU 3-1.
SAU extended its lead in the seventh when Kobe Morris lifted a bloop single over the first baseman's head to score two. After the seventh inning, the Muleriders led 5-1.
SAU held on until the end to advance in the tournament with a 5-1 win outhit MSU 9-2. Errors finished with one mishap defensively for both sides. The Mavericks left seven runners on base while the Muleriders had five stranded.
Muleriders' right-handed pitcher Parker Abrego upped his record to 4-2 this season in the win. He finished with a one-run complete game that featured two hits allowed, five walks and seven strikeouts.
Junior right-hander Cam Kline fell to 5-4 while taking the loss. Kline worked 6.1 innings surrendering four runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out six and never surrendering a walk.
Minnesota State wraps up the season at 39-10 overall and finished 28-6 in the conference play. The 2021 NSIC Regular Season and Tournament Champions finished third in the NCAA DII Central Regional with a 2-2 record in the tournament.
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