69th Article at the independent

SMSU BASEBALL: SMSU sweeps UMary behind walk-off winner in the 10th

CHRIS DRUMMOND cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

MARSHALL — In one of the coldest days of the spring, the Southwest Minnesota State University baseball team looked to continue its momentum from a series win against the University of Minnesota Crookston over the weekend with a doubleheader matchup against the University of Mary on Wednesday. SMSU did just that, completing a sweep of UMary with a 5-2 win in seven innings in Game 1 and an 8-7 victory in 10 innings in Game 2.

The Mustangs jumped out to a two-run lead in the very first inning in Game 1. However, the Marauders would stay close and tie up the game heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. That’s when SMSU decided to show a little power at the plate.

The Mustangs would hit two home runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The first was by third baseman Max Kalenburg that gave the Mustangs the lead at 3-2, followed by a two-run home run by second baseman Keenan Wenzel, giving all of the insurance the Mustangs needed to lead 5-2 and win the game by that same score. Head coach of the Mustangs Paul Blanchard spoke on his team’s Game 1 victory.

“First game we played really clean, got some runs and pitched well,” Blanchard said.

In game two it was a thriller to the finish. It started off the same way Game 1 did with the Mustangs jumping out to an early one-run lead. Then the Marauders took control of the game scoring the next five runs and keeping the Mustangs’ bats at bay, holding a 5-1 advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth. Wild pitching by Marauders and costly errors allowed the Mustangs to close the gap at 5-3 heading into the top of the seventh. With no score in that inning the Marauders extended their lead by four with key hits and timely baserunning and would keep a three-run lead at 7-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the last chance for the Mustangs or so we thought.

he Marauders had a meltdown, hitting multiple Mustangs batters with pitches, walking batters and allowing hits all throughout the inning. One call that was made by the umpire through a challenge of a Mustang runner being out or not. At first he was called out but after further review, the call was overturned. It was one out and the bases were loaded and still the Mustangs trailed 7-6. After a sacrifice fly by outfielder Andy Andresen tied the ballgame, the Marauders were able to get the last out to force extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, the Marauders threatened with a runner on second and one out, but the Mustangs got the next out as the runner advanced to third. Then the pitcher for the Mustangs Craig Lasley struck out the batter to end the inning. After a walk and two advancements of the runner to third with two outs, first baseman Jaxon Haase hit a walk-off RBI single to clinch the sweep of the Marauders for the Mustangs.

Blanchard spoke on Game 2 and Haase’s heroics.

“We made a lot of mistakes, they took advantage of every mistake we made,” Blanchard added. “We were able to battle back, got a leadoff batter on and a nice hit from Jaxon Haase. Nice playing enough games at home here, good stuff it was great.”

Blanchard also talked about how big the review was in the game.

“That was a huge deal,” Blanchard said. “They were able to see it on film and got the call right, it worked out.”

Haase tied with Kalenburg for most hits in both combined games with three. Haase also elaborated on his game-winning hit.

“He was throwing me a lot of fastballs, so it was just a matter of timing it up right,” Hasse added. “We work so hard and it just feels so good to get a hit and win.”

The Mustangs (12-24 overall, 5-19 NSIC) will next host Bemidji State University in a three-game series starting with a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon and concluding on Sunday at noon.