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CARY, N.C. --- Minnesota State used a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth innings while surrendering only one run for the third straight contest to best Southern Indiana, 5-1, Thursday evening at the USA Baseball National Training Complex and force a winner-take-all affair with the Screaming Eagles tomorrow for a spot in the national championship.
 
MSU improves to 48-10 with the victory, while USI drops to 48-12. The two programs will meet tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT needing one win to clinch a berth in Saturday's national title game.
 
For the third time at the national finals, Minnesota State's opponent plated the game's first run. Southern Indiana used a leadoff walk in the top of the second and a pair of two-out singles, capped by senior Caleb Eickhoff's RBI single to left just under the glove of diving sophomore left fielder Taylor Branstad, to jump in front by a run.
 
Branstad, however, responded for MSU in its half of the fourth frame. With runners at first and second and two down, Branstad belted a 1-0 fastball to the gap in right-center scoring both Mavericks and giving the Purple and Gold a 2-1 edge.
 
Minnesota State used nearly the same script to plate two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Junior Connor McCallum tagged a leadoff single, and freshman Eric Peterson backed that up with a one-out base hit placing runners at the corners. Senior Todd Standish followed with a bouncer to the shortstop that Peterson beat out at second, scoring McCallum, before Johnson drove a RBI single to the opposite field two batters increasing the MSU lead to 4-1.
 
In his longest outing of the season, senior righthander T.J. Larson registered his sixth consecutive shutout frame in the top of the seventh. Despite a one-out walk and throwing error allowing the runner to advance to third, Larson maintained the three-run advantage by inducing a soft lineout and flyout to centerfield.
 
MSU turned to the bullpen for the first in the tournament in the top of the eighth where sophomore righthander Josh Matheson proceeded to strike out a pair of Screaming Eagles in a perfect inning. In the bottom half, the Mavericks added an insurance run with a two-out single to right field by senior Parker Sullivan that plated Branstad from third.
 
Junior southpaw Matt Geislinger took the hill in the top of the ninth and used a 1-6-3 double-play to lock down the victory for Minnesota State.
 
Larson (6-3) finished with three strikeouts against five hits and an earned run in seven innings of work. Offensively, Branstad ended with a game-high three hits, a run and two RBI; while McCallum and Johnson each added two hits of their own.