ELKHORN, Neb. – The Minnesota State Mavericks (8-0, 8-0 NSIC) secured a pair of victories on Sunday, defeating the University of Mary 4-2 in the opener before taking the second game 16-6 at Frerichs Legion Field. The Mavericks stayed unbeaten and improved to 8-0, their best start to a season since 1975 (11-0).
Game 1: Minnesota State 4, University of Mary 2 (7 innings)
Minnesota State struck early in the first inning when
Louis Magers launched a solo home run to put the Mavericks on the board. Shortly after,
Ike Mezzenga reached base on a walk and later came around to score on a defensive miscue by UMary, giving MSU a 2-0 advantage.
The Mavericks extended their lead in the second inning.
Zach Stroh drew a walk to lead off and advanced into scoring position before
Aidan Byrne delivered an RBI double, making it 3-0.
Brady Jurgella later scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 4-0.
UMary responded in the bottom of the sixth and broke through against MSU's pitching staff with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 4-2. However,
Hunter Day entered in relief and shut the door in the seventh inning, earning the save.
Minnesota State's pitching staff was dominant, holding UMary to just six hits while racking up seven strikeouts.
Louis Magers (2-0) tossed 5.0 innings of scoreless baseball, walked two and struck out five to earn the win, while
Ean DiPasquale and Day combined to preserve the victory.
Game 2: Minnesota State 16, University of Mary 6
The second game of the doubleheader saw an offensive explosion from the Mavericks, who pounded out 16 runs on 15 hits.
Minnesota State fell behind early as UMary took a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
However, the Mavericks answered in the third inning.
Ike Mezzenga crushed a two-run homer to even the score at 2-2. Later in the inning,
Zach Stroh doubled home a run to give MSU a 3-2 lead.
UMary responded quickly in the bottom half, reclaiming the lead with a three-run home run making it 5-3 Marauders.
The Mavericks' bats stayed hot in the sixth inning when
Brandon Vlcko smashed a three-run homer to put MSU ahead 6-5. Minnesota State added another run in the seventh before breaking the game wide open in the eighth. The Mavericks plated six runs in the frame, capitalizing on UMary errors and timely hitting, highlighted by
Brady Jurgella's two-run single.
"It was two well earned wins today and we showed impressive resilience in numerous situations," said head coach
Matt Magers.
MSU travels down to Florida on March 6
th to play seven games in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.