MANKATO, Minn. – Top-seeded Minnesota State earned a spot in Sunday’s final day of the NCAA Division II Central Region Baseball Tournament as the Mavericks defeated fourth-seeded New Mexico Highlands 6-2 at Franklin Rogers Park.
 
Minnesota State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as with the second at-bat of the game senior Matt Kuchenbecker knocked a home run over the left-field wall for the Mavericks’ first run before fellow senior Matt Odegaard drove in the second run with a hard-hit single back at the pitcher scoring senior Pat Dockendorf.
 
New Mexico Highlands found the scoreboard in the third inning as the Cowboys cut the lead to one run after a solo home run by shortstop Thomas King.
 
However, senior Ben Kincaid would get the run back for Minnesota State in the following inning as his lead-off homer extended the Mavericks’ lead back to two runs at 3-1.
 
The Mavericks added to their lead in the fifth inning as Odegaard lined a double down the left-field line which scored Kuchenbecker and Dockendorf before adding an unearned run extending MSU’s lead to 6-1.
 
The Cowboys would add a single run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Chris Pile but it wouldn’t be enough as starting pitcher sophomore Jason Hoppe was able to shutdown New Mexico Highlands for the remainder of the game.
 
Hoppe earned his seventh win of the season after allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out nine batters in a complete-game effort.
 
MSU was led at the plate by Dockendorf and Odegaard who each went 3-for-5 while Odegaard added three RBI.
 
The Mavericks spread out 10 hits over the course of the afternoon as New Mexico Highlands went through three pitchers while starting pitcher Matt Gualco was credited with the loss after allowing five earned runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings of work.
 
Saturday’s win, the Mavericks’ sixth in a row and 10 out of their last 11, guarantees Minnesota State a spot in the central region championship game which will be played on Sunday at Franklin Rogers Park. 
 
MSU will play the winner of Saturday night’s game for the NCAA Division II Central Region championship.  The winner of the nightcap of day three will have to beat the Mavericks twice to claim the double-elimination tournament championship while MSU will need to win just once.

Adam Christ talks about the win: