MANKATO, Minn. – Minnesota State came out on top of a back-and-forth game Saturday afternoon as the Mavericks defeated St. Cloud State, 9-7, as the two teams will play again this afternoon for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference baseball championship.
 
The Mavericks got out to a tough start in the first inning as St. Cloud State scored two unearned runs as both Joey Benke and Michael Jurgella recorded RBI singles to right field giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
 
The top of the second proved to be much kinder to MSU as the Mavericks tied the score at two after senior Matt Odegaard brought in junior Mike Eckhart with a double to left-center before eventually scoring on a single to center field by freshman Connor McCallum.
 
Minnesota State expanded its lead in the following inning as Eckhart broke out the long ball with a three-run home run, his fifth of the season, before Odegaard scored after a SCSU throwing error giving the Mavericks a 6-2 edge.
 
Starting pitcher Bryce Bellin struggled with his control in the bottom of the fourth as he loaded the bases after walking three St. Cloud State batters.
 
Garrett Fischer made the most of his opportunity at the plate with the bases loaded as he took a first-pitch fastball over the left field fence for a grand slam which tied the game at six.
 
The Mavericks would recapture the lead in the top of the fifth as senior Jeremy Sudbeck drove in fellow senior Ben Kincaid who singled earlier in the inning to give MSU a 7-6 lead.
 
The back-and-forth game would continue in the sixth inning as St. Cloud State tied the game at seven as Phil Imholte drove a sacrifice fly to right field which was deep enough to score pinch-runner Eric Loxtercamp.
 
Odegaard would give MSU a one-run lead in the top of the seventh as his sacrifice fly brought in Kincaid for his second run of the game to take an 8-7 lead.
 
SCSU looked to recapture the lead in the bottom of the seventh as they loaded the bases but relief pitcher junior Mahlon Zimmermann was able to strikeout Travis Enger to end the inning and preserve the one-run lead.
 
The Mavericks were able to extend the lead to two in the following inning as senior Matt Kuchenbecker drove a ball to right-center which scored freshman Nolan Johnson to take a 9-7 lead.
 
MSU would hang on to win the game by the score of 9-7 as Zimmermann picked up his second save of the season after allowing no runs on two hits while striking out two batters in 2.1 innings of relief work.
 
Bellin would pick up his ninth win of the season after allowing five earned runs on five hits while striking out four batters in six innings pitched.
 
MSU was led at the plate by Kincaid and Eckhart who each added three hits while Kuchenbecker, Odegaard and McCallum each contributed two hits as the Mavericks pounded out 16 hits in the game.  Junior Lucas Skjefte also came up clutch in the field for MSU recording two highlight-reel catches to help MSU ensure a rematch against St. Cloud.  
 
With the Minnesota State win, the two teams will play again at 3:40 p.m., to determine the winner of the NSIC baseball tournament.