All season long the Minnesota State baseball team has showcased its pitching wealth. Now, after falling to Arkansas Monticello 5-3 Thursday night in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Central Regional #2, the No. 6-ranked Mavericks must count on it to navigate through the loser’s bracket of the double elimination tournament.
“We struggled at times but we did enough to stay in the game,” Minnesota State coach Matt Magers said. “We just didn’t play the Maverick way like we hoped to. Give them a lot of credit. They’re a good program. We’ve played them in the past and knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We’ve bounced back all year so I look for us to get them tomorrow.
“I am not saying we’re in the best spot, but we’re certainly comfortable with the team depth we’ve showed all year. I am excited to see if we can make the journey at the end of the tournament better.”
Monticello (33-21) scored a pair of runs off Mavericks’ senior left-hander Nathan Culley (12-1) in the top of the fifth when Chaz Poppy reached on an infield single and Camden Tanner drew a one-out walk. Elijah Nichols lined an RBI single up the middle before Kyle Tolley smacked a run-scoring double into right-center field. Poppy and Tanner ripped three hits each for the Weevils while Kirk Woolf and Tolley chipped in two apiece.
Minnesota State (49-7) trimmed the deficit to 2-1 in sixth off Weevils’ starter Connor Irvine. Senior second baseman Matt Fleischhacker rocketed a double to deep center field and graduate shortstop Aidan Byrne singled through the hole. However, Irvine induced an RBI groundout before closing things out with a pair of outs. Irvine allowed one run on seven hits over seven innings while striking out five and walking none.
“I felt we came in here one of the most feared teams after what we did last year,” Irvine said. “We’ve kind of underachieved this year so this proves how we deserve to be here and shouldn’t be taken lightly. I threw enough wrinkles in there and tried to command the zone. I tried to capitalize on the fact that they’re a free-swinging team later in counts.”
Monticello added a run in the seventh on back-to-back doubles into the left-field corner by Woolf and Poppy. Minnesota State countered with a run in the eighth. After Monticello expanded the lead to 5-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth, Fleischhacker laced a run-scoring double into right field to keep the Mavericks’ hopes alive. However, relief pitcher Kyle Roop got a pop-out to end things.
“Their pitcher mixed well and kept us off balance all night,” Fleischhacker said. “We just didn’t get the big hits like we have all year. We’ll be back tomorrow with the same approach and attitude to get the job done. Every game is going to be a dog fight so we just need to come out ready tomorrow. We have good starters, middle relievers and back-end guys, so we have the talent to win four games.”
Fleischhacker, Byrne, Zach Stroh and freshman center fielder Logan Miller collected two hits each for the Mavericks.
Minnesota State plays a 2 p.m. elimination game today against Henderson State.