Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BISMARCK, N.D. – In his best start of the year, Brad Meyer kept the University of Mary baseball team in position for an opening game win. Taking advantage of a defensive miscue by visiting Minnesota State University and a clutch relief effort by Zach Steckler, the Marauders pulled off a 2-1 win in the opening game of Sunday's Northern Sun doubleheader. A Mavericks power display late in the night cap carried MSU past U-Mary 11-3 for a split on a blustery day.
 
Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the fifth, sophomore Tom Imholte singled to right field with one out and freshman Chris Scott crushed a double to left that sliced through a brutal crosswind to place both Marauders (5-20 overall, 3-10 NSIC) in scoring position. After a pop out in foul territory for the second out, freshman designated hitter Travis Stevens bounced a slow roller towards short. Mavericks (17-10, 8-5) shortstop Luke Waldek charged the ball and fired towards first, but his low throw skipped past first baseman Dylan Dresel and rolled into foul territory. Imholte scored easily to tie the game and Scott raced home from second for a 2-1 lead.
 
Pitching in front for the first time all day, Meyer gave up a leadoff single to Taylor Branstad in the sixth. Charged with protecting the Marauders lead, Meyer struck out the next hitter and induced a popup for the second out. Dresel then cracked a hard ground ball to the left side. Looking like it would shoot through for a base hit, Ethan Meide moved quickly to his glove side, made a nice grab off a short hop and fired to twin brother Seth Meide to force Branstad at second to end the inning.
 
The Mavericks made one final push. Waldek led off the seventh with a double to left center. Meyer hunkered down and struck out designated hitter Jack Matson for the first out. After Meyer hit Hunter Harnisch with a pitch to put the go-ahead runner on base, Steckler was summoned to the mound.
 
Fresh off throwing a complete game on Wednesday, the senior from West Fargo, N.D., retired Kyle Toth on a grounder out to Ethan Meide at third, allowing Waldek to move up to third and Harnisch to second. Needing one more out for the win, Eric Peterson launched a bullet to right field directly at Scott, who gloved the ball for the last out.
 
Meyer went 6.1 innings to pick up his first win at U-Mary. The Pierz, Minn., native allowed one run on five hits and two walks. He stuck out five. Steckler retired the two batters he faced for his first save of the year.
 
Imholte collected two of the Marauders six hits. He was 2-for-2, scored a run and was hit by a pitch.
 
Mitchell Bauer gave up six hits and a walk in six innings for MSU. He struck out six and didn't allow an earned run.
 
The second contest also remained tight through the early innings. Branstad homered to right center with two outs in the top of the first inning and hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to give Minnesota State a 2-0 lead.
 
Shaul opened the home half of the fourth with a double to right. After moving to third on a balk, the senior left fielder scored on a Clay Bassingthwaite grounder to first and closed the U-Mary deficit to 2-1.
 
The game started to get away from the Marauders in the sixth. After a one out walk to Peterson and a single from Branstad placed runners on the corners, U-Mary appeared to get a break. Branstad broke early on an attempted steal of second and pitcher Nick Stobbe threw behind the runner to get Branstad in a run down. Peterson soon made a break for home but Seth Meide's throw home bounced off Imholte's glove as he attempted to make the tag on Peterson, allowing the runner to score on the catcher's error.
 
After Stobbe hit Waldek with a pitch, sophomore righty A.J Schaefbauer came on in relief and immediately gave up a 3-run home run to Jordan Hart for a 6-1 MSU lead.
 
MSU's lead continued to grow with two more runs in the seventh and three in the eighth.
 
Showing fight to the end, the Marauders scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings. A Shaul sacrifice fly scored Seth Meide in the eighth. In the ninth, a Seth Meide single scored Will Pettener, who produced a pinch hit single and moved to third on a double to right center by Ethan Meide.
 
One of the nation's leaders in batting average and on base percentage, Imholte was 2-for-5 in the second game. For the day he was 4-for-7 and was hit by a pitch. Seth Meide also had two hits, scored a run and drove in a run.
 
Peterson finished 3-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBIs for MSU. Toth, Branstad and Harnisch all had two hits.
 
Josh Matheson earned the win, striking out seven in seven innings. He allowed one run on five hits and a walk.
 
The Marauders return to action with a single game at NCAA Division I North Dakota State on Tuesday, April 12. U-Mary continues its 14 game NSIC home stand against Winona State on Saturday and Sunday, April 16-17.
 
#marauders#