WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Fourth-seed Minnesota State was eliminated from the 2022 NCAA DII Central Region Baseball Tournament following a 9-6 loss to No. 3-rated top-seed Central Missouri, Friday afternoon at Tompkins Field at Crane Stadium.
With the loss, the Mavericks have been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament and finish the season with a 39-9 (28-5 NSIC) record. The Mules, now 44-8 on the season, advance to take on the loser of fourth-seed Augustana vs. eighth-seed Ouachita Baptist, Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
The Mules struck first in Friday's contest when Isaiah Pani grounded out to the shortstop, allowing Garrett Pennington to score from third base in the second inning. The Mules led the Mavericks 1-0 after two innings of play in Warrensburg.
The third inning saw UCM pile four more runs on thanks to an RBI triple from Michael Chrisman, a two-run homer by Brennen vanBreusegan and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Pennington. The four-run four-hit surge provided the Mules with a 5-0 advantage.
MSU made a push back into the game in the next half inning. Junior infielder Mikey Gottschalk walked with the bases loaded before infielders Aidan Byrne and Adam Schneider hit back-to-back RBI groundouts. After three innings, the Mules held a 5-3 lead over the Mavericks.
UCM extended its lead to four in the next half inning when Harrison Schnurbusch singled to left and Cole Moore grounded out to plate a second run in the top of the fourth inning. MSU matched UCM with a pair of runs after scoring on a double batted off the wall in center by Cam Kline to shrink the deficit back to two, 7-5.
In the fifth frame, Pani's single deflected off the shortstop and into center field, allowing vanBreusegan to score from third and increase the lead to three. With the fifth inning concluded, the Mavericks trailed the Mules 8-5.
Byrne helped the Mavericks inch back within two runs of the Mules in the bottom of the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly to left-center that allowed Kline to score from third. With the seventh inning complete, the Mules owned a two-run edge over the Mavericks, 8-6.
Pennington iced the game in the top of the ninth inning, his no-doubt solo shot over the fence in left made it a 9-6 ballgame. UCM ultimately held on to defeat MSU 9-6 in Friday's contest.
Making his 11th start of the season on the mound for MSU, senior right-handed pitcher Brendan Knoll fell to 8-3 after pitching into the fourth inning before being relieved by junior right-hander Jack Zigan. Knoll pitched three innings with eight hits against for seven runs. He had one strikeout during the outing. In relief, Zigan pitched five complete innings allowing five hits and a run while walking two and retiring five on strikes.
UCM doubled up MSU in hits by a 14-7 margin. The Mavericks left eight costly runners on base during the game opposed to the six left aboard by the Mules.
With the loss, MSU's season ends at a 39-9 overall mark in the NCAA Central Sub-Region Tournament. The Mavericks were the NSIC Tournament Champions for the second straight season and for the seventh time overall after owning a 28-5 record during Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season games to secure the third spot in the standings.
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