CARY, N.C. – Minnesota State lived to see another day Monday afternoon at the USA Baseball National Training Complex as the Mavericks eliminated Chico State with a 6-5 victory in the second round of the NCAA Division II College Baseball World Series.
 
With two outs and the score tied at four in the top of the ninth, senior Matt Odegaard reached base with a single to left field which brought junior Mike Eckhart to the plate.  Down 0-1 in the count, Eckhart proceeded to send a line drive to deep right field for a triple which scored Odegaard for the go-ahead run.  Eckhart scored the Mavericks sixth run which proved to be the winning run on an infield RBI single by senior Ben Kincaid which was just out of the reach of relief pitcher Mike Botelho.
 
Monday’s game between the Mavericks and Wildcats was an elimination game as both teams lost their opening-round tilts in the double-elimination championship finals.
 
Chico State would put the game’s first run on the board in the second inning as Shane Kroker’s RBI single to left-center drove in Blake Gibbs who doubled to lead off the inning.  The Wildcats extended their lead in the fourth inning as Pierson Jeremiah hit a ground ball through the middle of the infield for two more RBI extending Chico State’s lead to 3-0.
 
Minnesota State scored its first run in the fifth inning on an odd play with runners on the corners as freshman Nolan Johnson lined out to second base before freshman Connor McCallum would plate MSU’s first run after a throwing error by Chico State’s second baseman which hit senior Jeremy Sudbeck in the helmet on his retreat back to first base.
 
The Mavericks found more offense in the following inning drawing even with the Wildcats as Odegaard hit a single to shallow center field scoring fellow senior Matt Kuchenbecker for the team’s second run.
 
MSU scored its third run on a bases-loaded infield single by Sudbeck which scored Odegaard tying the game at three.
 
However, Chico State recaptured the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out RBI double by Jeremiah before Minnesota State was once again able to even the score the following inning as Kincaid was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded which scored senior Pat Dockendorf setting up another late-inning victory for the Mavericks.
 
After Minnesota State put its two runs on the board in the top of the ninth, Chico State scored an unearned run in the bottom of the inning but its rally was put to a halt by relief pitcher junior Mahlon Zimmermann who struck out Blake Gibbs to end the game.
 
Minnesota State starting pitcher junior Harvey Martin earned a no-decision after allowing three earned runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings of work.
 
Zimmermann picked up his second win of the season after allowing one unearned run on one hit in the game’s final two innings.
 
Coming up big with 3.2 innings of relief work of Martin was sophomore TJ Larson who allowed one run on four hits.
 
The Mavericks were led at the plate by Dockendorf, Odegaard and Sudbeck who each went 2-for-4 while Kincaid added two RBI as the Mavericks finished the afternoon with 11 hits and one error while Chico State pounded out 12 hits but were plagued by four fielding errors.