BRANDON, S.D. -- The No. 19-rated Minnesota State baseball team prevailed to advance to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship Game with a 5-4 victory over #11 Augustana thanks to a two-run double with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth inning by senior catcher Ben Livorsi, Saturday afternoon at First National Bank Park at Aspen Park.
With the win to improve to 3-0 in the NSIC Tournament and advance to the championship round, the Mavericks now own a 38-7 overall record this season. The Vikings are now 43-9-1 on the year following the loss.
Augie opened the scoring in Saturday's semifinal contest, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning thanks to RBI singles hit by Jack Hines and JT Mix. However, the two-run lead didn't hold for too long as junior Mikey Gottschalk put the Mavericks on the board with his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot to center in the top of the second inning, to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
After senior Cam Kline tied the game, 2-2, in the fourth by hitting a solo home run to left-center for his fifth homer of the season, he capitalized again during the eighth inning with an RBI single to right that scored Ryan Wickman and gave MSU a 3-2 lead.
In response, Hines struck again for Augie in the bottom half of the eighth inning when he hit a solo home run to right-center to tie the game at 3-3. Later in the inning, the Vikings reclaimed the lead when Max Mosser drew a bases-loaded walk to put AU on top, 4-3.
The ninth inning signaled pandemonium time for the Maverick bats. The inning began with Gottschalk drawing a free pass to serve as the tying run on base. After a pair of strikeouts, sophomore Adam Schneider singled to move Gottschalk up to second. Then, with two outs and two strikes trailing by one in the ninth inning, Livorsi laced one over the head of the outstretched Augie centerfielder to score Gottschalk and Schneider, which gave the Mavericks a 5-4 lead.
In the bottom half the ninth, junior right-handed pitcher Jack Zigan came back out to pitch after leading MSU out of the jam in the eighth. He retired the Vikings in order to lock down the 5-4 victory and picked up the win as a result to improve to 4-1 on the season.
Making his 10th start of the season on the hill for the Purple and Gold on Saturday was senior right-handed pitcher Brendan Knoll. Knoll threw 7.2 innings while allowing 12 hits and four runs. He also walked one, but struck out seven other Vikings' hitters along the way.
Despite being doubled up in hits, 12-6, in the contest, the Mavericks came out on top in the score column. MSU also had the game's only error,
With the win, MSU advances to the championship round of the NSIC Baseball Tournament and will take on either top-seed Augustana, fourth-seed Minot State or sixth-seed Minnesota Duluth. First pitch for the championship game is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. at First National Bank Field at Aspen Park.
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