BISMARCK, ND – The University of Mary baseball team closed out their 2017 home schedule in spectacular style. Behind stellar starting pitching performances from
Travis Stevens and
Clay Bassingthwaite, the Marauders swept their Northern Sun doubleheader with Bemidji State by identical 3-2 scores.
Stevens and Bassingthwaite combined to limit the Beavers to eight hits and two runs in 11 innings.
Nicholas Stobbe and
Austin Ell both picked up their first saves of the season, giving up one run in 4.1 innings of relief.
The Marauders opened the scoring in the opening game and played with the lead all day.
Chris Scott led off the second inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Drew Feuerbach. Following a fly out to left field, sophomore shortstop
Daulton Sauce hit an opposite field single to right to score Scott for a 1-0 lead.
UMary doubled its lead in the third. Loading the bases on a walk and two singles by the first three hitters, it took a Beavers error with two outs to score
Seth Meide with the lone run for a 2-0 advantage.
Both teams scored single runs in the fifth. After BSU tallied in the top of the inning,
Lane Huck singled to left with one out, stole second base and scored on a Scott single through the right side to push the Marauders lead to 3-1.
After five strong innings from Stevens, Stobbe was summoned from the bullpen to start the sixth. The senior righthander allowed a single and a walk but escaped unscathed. In the seventh Stobbe quickly retired the first two hitters before allowing a home run to Scott Litchy. After a double by Gunner Olszewski put the tying run in scoring position, Stobbe struck out Ryan Rumpca on three pitches to end the game.
Stevens struck out two and allowed one run on five hits and two walks in five innings for his second win of the season. Stobbe gave up three hits, one walk and one run while striking out three for his first save of the season.
Huck finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI to pace the Marauders offense. Litchy had three hits, one run scored and two RBIs for BSU.
Taking his cue from Stevens, Bassingthwaite was even more dominant in game two. Making his second start of the season, the junior lefthander retired the first ten Beavers hitters he faced. After allowing a double to Collin Eckman, he retired the next four batters to keep Bemidji State scoreless through five innings.
The Marauders grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third when Meide singled home Sauce for the first run of the game before an error scored
Andrew Beyer. Another Beavers mistake brought home the Marauders third run in the fifth. Leading off with a double,
Connor Doll stole third and scored on an errant throw.
Nearly out of the sixth after the Marauders turned a double play, the Beavers broke through on a run-scoring single by Eckman.
Turning the game over to
Kenny Slominski, the junior righthander retired the first two hitters of the seventh a single, a wild pitch and another single pulled the Beavers within 3-2. Summoned from the pen, Ell registered the final out of the inning on a liner back to the junior lefthander. Ell then pitched a perfect eighth before running into potential trouble in the ninth.
After the leadoff batter reached on an error and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, Ell struck out the next batter before a fly ball to Beyer in center closed out the game.
Bassingthwaite struck out two and allowed one run on three hits and three walks in six innings. Ell pitched a hitless 2.1 innings for the save, striking out two with no walks.
Huck posted two of the Marauders eight hits. Sauce, Doll and Beyer, the 8-9-1 hitters, each had a hit and scored a run for UMary.
Eckman had two hits for BSU. Logan Riedel scored twice.
With their second sweep of the season, the Marauders improve to 11-32 overall and 7-27 in the NSIC. BSU is 13-29 and 10-20.
The Marauders close out the regular season with four games at Minot State on April 29-30.
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