MANKATO, Minn. – The top-seeded Minnesota State Mavericks escaped with a 6-5 victory against sixth-seeded Minnesota Duluth Wednesday night in the opening round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament as MSU survived a late scare from the Bulldogs.
 
Minnesota Duluth struck early as it jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the top of the first scoring two unearned runs off two Maverick errors.
 
MSU would respond the following inning as freshman Connor McCallum brought in senior Jeremy Sudbeck who had singled earlier in the inning before freshman Nolan Johnson scored on a Minnesota Duluth passed ball to even the score at two.
 
The Bulldogs would break the 2-2 tie in the top of the fifth inning as Orry Engebretsen drove in a run before Max Ryan recorded an RBI fielder’s choice giving UMD a 4-2 advantage.
 
However, Minnesota State tied the score once again in the sixth inning as the Mavericks scored two more runs courtesy of a solo home run by McCallum before senior Pat Dockendorf brought in senior Matt Kuchenbecker with an RBI triple to right-center.
 
The Mavericks took their first lead of the contest in the bottom of the eighth inning as Dockendorf’s RBI fielder’s choice brought home Johnson while junior Lucas Skjefte also scored after a throwing error by UMD’s shortstop Marcus Riewer.
 
The Bulldogs would threaten the Mavericks’ 6-4 lead in the final inning as first baseman Anders Engberg platted UMD’s fifth run after a wild pitch from Minnesota State’s junior right-handed pitcher Nick Sutherland.
 
The game was decided on Engebretsen’s at-bat in the ninth inning as he reached on an error by MSU shortstop Todd Standish which pushed pinch runner Kellen McCoshen to third base.
 
However, as the ball rolled away from MSU first baseman senior Matt Odegaard, McCoshen broke towards home plate but was thrown out by Odegaard as he slide home which marked the third out and sealed the Mavericks’ 6-5 victory.
 
The Mavericks were led in the opening-round thriller by Eckhart who finished 3-for-4 at the plate while Kuchenbecker, Dockendorf, Sudbeck, Johnson and McCallum each added two hits as the Mavericks totaled 15 hits in the game.  Dockendorf and McCallum were responsible for the four RBI Minnesota State recorded as each recorded two.
 
Sophomore Bryce Bellin picked up his eighth win of the season after allowing no runs on just one hit while striking out five batters in three relief innings for starting pitcher senior Harvey Martin.  Sutherland was also credited with his 13th save of the season.
 
Minnesota State (40-9) will play third-seeded Wayne State (32-17) in tomorrow’s second round as the Wildcats dropped their opening-round tilt against Winona State, 2-1.  Thursday’s game against WSC is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m., at Franklin Rogers Park.