OMAHA, Neb. --- Minnesota State earned its first shutout of the season Saturday afternoon as the Mavericks defeated the University of Mary 2-0.
With the win, MSU improves to 6-0 on the season, including a 6-0 NSIC record. With the loss, UMary drops to 4-7, including a 0-2 conference record. This is the first time since the 2010 season that the Mavericks have won their first six games of the season.
"We received outstanding pitching from Culley and Wright," head coach
Matt Magers said. "Offensively we were able to manufacture a couple of runs which put us in a position to maintain the lead throughout."
Graduate student
Nathan Culley (2-0) picked up the win as he gave up just three hits while striking out nine batters in six innings of work. Senior
Spencer Wright picked up his second save of the season as allowed just one hit in three innings, while fanning two.
Ryan Chamberlain (0-3) took the loss as he allowed two runs on four hits, through five innings. Jaxon Zanolli threw four shutout innings in relief for the Marauders, while striking out six.
The Mavericks got the first run of the game in the bottom of the second. With one out, graduate student
Ben Palmer walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman
Jake Berkland. Palmer then came around to score on the RBI-single from senior
Zach Stroh to put MSU up 1-0.
MSU added another run in the top of the fifth to go up 2-0. Graduate student
Aidan Byrne led off the inning with a walk and moved up to second on the sacrifice bunt from junior
Matthew Fleischhacker. Junior
Louis Magers then drove in Byrne with an RBI-single to put MSU up 2-0.
Culley and Wright combined to strand four runners on base during the final five innings of the game as the Marauders could only muster one hit down the stretch as Minnesota State locked down the 2-0 win.
Stroh finished the game with two hits and a RBI, while Byrne and Palmer each scored a run.
Minnesota State wraps up its four-game series with the Marauders on Sunday. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at noon at Frerichs Legion Field.