MANKATO, Minn. -- The No. 14-rated Minnesota State baseball team dropped the regular-season finale, 7-2, to No.18 Augustana during a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference baseball game played at Bowyer Field, Saturday afternoon.
Including Friday's loss in game two, it marks the Mavericks' first back-to-back losses since March 4. MSU now stands 35-7 overall and finished league play with a 28-4 mark to finish second in the NSIC standings. The Vikings are now 41-8-1 and won the NSIC Regular-Season Championship on Saturday when they improved to 31-5 in the conference with the win.
The Mavericks broke into the score column first in Saturday's finale. Senior catcher Ben Livorsi cracked one to right in the bottom of the third inning that resulted in a no-doubt solo home run. Livorsi's eight blast of the season had the Mavericks up 1-0 after the third inning.
MSU's lead did not hold for long. In the top of the fourth inning, JT Mix tripled down the rightfield line to score Will Olson. It tied the game 1-1.
Mix continued to wreak havoc on Maverick pitching in the top of the sixth inning. His double to right-center drove in Jack Hines and made it 2-1. Then, Jaxon Rosencranz provided insurance in the next at bat with an RBI triple that scored Mix and gave Augie a 3-1 lead before Drey Dirksen singled to score Rosencranz and made it 4-1 Vikings.
MSU mounted a comeback in the bottom of the eighth inning when Nick Altermatt doubled off the fence in left-center to score Ryan Wickman from first. The Mavericks cut the deficit from three to two with the knock that made it a 4-2 ballgame.
In the top of the ninth inning, the Vikings reclaimed their three-run lead, 5-2, with a double down the leftfield line off the bat of Carter Howell. A two-run blast by Jordan Barth in the next at-bat made it a 7-2 game, which put the game out of reach for MSU.
While making his fourth start of the season, junior right-handed pitcher Jack Zigan pitched first on the hill for the Mavericks in the regular-season finale. After pitching four frames in a non-decisive outing, Zigan allowed four hits and one run with one walk and one strikeout along the way. In his first relief appearance of the season, Brendan Knoll was handed his first loss and fell to 8-2. He pitched the fifth inning and got two outs in the top of the sixth while being hit off four times for three runs. Knoll walked one opposing hitter and retired two Vikings on strikes.
The Vikings outhit the Mavericks 16-4 in the finale. Augie had the game's only error and left five more runners on base in the contest than MSU by a 9-4 margin.
Up next for the Mavericks is the NSIC tournament at Ronken Field in Sioux Falls, S.D., May 11-13. MSU takes on Minnesota Duluth in its first game at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday.
-30-
