CROOKSTON, Minn. – With his third complete game in nine starts, graduate left-hander
Nathan Culley (Andover, Minn.) fanned nine to help Minnesota State baseball over Minnesota Crookston 5-2 in game one of an NSIC doubleheader Saturday afternoon.
Thirteen hits in game two and five scoreless innings from starting pitcher
Louis Magers (Mankato, Minn.) gave the Mavericks their seventh shutout of the season, 7-0 over the Golden Eagles. MSU picked up its fifth straight victory and improved to 35-4 overall (27-3 NSIC).
Minnesota State swept the three-game set against Minnesota Crookston (18-22, 15-15 NSIC) and returns home to face Concordia-St. Paul (17-23, 13-17 NSIC) for two games on Wednesday, April 23 at Bowyer Field.
Game 1 - #8 Minnesota State 5, Minnesota Crookston 2 (7 innings)
Culley improved to 9-0 on the hill this spring and holds a conference-best 2.09 earned run average, one spot ahead of Josh Dykhoff (3.07), who suffered the loss for the Golden Eagles in the head-to-head matchup between two of the league's best.
The second inning was pivotal for the Mavericks, who scored four runs on four hits and capitalized on a Golden Eagles error.
Zach Stroh started with a leadoff base hit.
Lincoln Berry reached on a fielder's choice and
Logan Miller singled to center field.
Jake Berkland's single to center field scored Berry and
Nick Baker doubled to left field to collect his eighth and ninth runs batted in this season. Baker later scored unearned on a throwing error at third base.
Stroh helped the Mavericks extend the lead to 5-1 with a solo home run to center field in the top of the third. Meanwhile, Culley continued to roll, faced just three hitters in each of the first three innings and induced a double-play ground ball to end the fourth. Americo Sculati tripled in the sixth inning to drive in the first run of the game for Minnesota Crookston. A single through the right side in the bottom of the seventh made it 5-2, but Culley shut the door by striking out Dykhoff to end the game.
The Mavericks totaled five hits and did not commit an error. The bottom half of the batting order excelled. Stroh finished 2-for-3 and hit his third home run of the spring. Dykhoff completed the game for the Golden Eagles, allowed four earned runs and struck out six.
Game 2 - #8 Minnesota State 7, Minnesota Crookston 0 (9 innings)
Matthew Fleischhacker,
Aidan Byrne and
Ike Mezzenga all went 3-for-5 at the plate as the Mavericks overwhelmed the Golden Eagles early with one run in the first and three runs in the second. In addition to a strong outing on the mound, Magers doubled to score the first run of the game.
Jake Berkland hit a one-out triple and Mezzenga later doubled in the second.
Three singles in the fourth gave the Mavericks a 4-0 edge. Then Byrne drove in Fleischhacker in the sixth and Berkland in the eighth with a double. Mezzenga led the squad with three runs batted in. Magers finished with five strikeouts and one walk through 5.0 innings and improved to 5-0.
Jacob Gajic tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless relief and struck out four. Ian DiPasquale closed out the final 1.1 innings and struck out three of four batters faced.
Augustana fell to Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday, giving Minnesota State a five-game lead at the top of the NSIC regular season standings with 10 games before the conference tournament. Fleischhacker remained one walk from setting the all-time career program record.
