KIRKSVILLE, MO – Booming bats carried the University of Mary baseball team to a pair of wins Sunday and a 4-game weekend sweep on the road at Truman State University. The Marauders won the opener 11-8 before finishing with an 11-7 victory over the Bulldogs. For the weekend UMary outscored Truman State 45-17.
GAME ONE | University of Mary 11 Truman State University 8
The University of Mary (7-8) scored five times in the first inning behind a 2-run home run by
Derek Shoen and a 3-run blast by
Krece Papierski and held off challenges by Truman State (6-6) the rest of the game. The Bulldogs retaliated with four runs in the bottom of the first. UMary bumped its lead to 10-4 after plating runs in innings three through six, including a
Noah Hull solo home run. Truman State made a late run when the Bulldogs posted four in the sixth inning to get within 10-8.
Joel McGrath came on to shut down the TSU rally, pitching 1.1 scoreless innings to get his first save.
PIVOT POINT
UMary immediately attacked Truman State starting pitcher Cole Eggerding as six of the Marauders first seven batter recorded hits. Following a leadoff single by
Michael Polson and a foul ball out, Shoen smashed a 2-run home run to right field. After back-to-back singles through the right side of the infield by
Cal James and
Josh Walker, Papierski hit a 3-run shot to right field to cap a 5-run inning and a lead UMary never relinquished.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Michael Polson | 3x5, 2 R, SB
- Derek Shoen | 2x4, 2 R, HR 2 RBIs
- Josh Walker | 2x3, R, HR, 5 RBIs, SB
- Noah Hull | 3x4, R, 2 RBIs
- Joel McGrath | 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
GAME 2 | Marauders 11 Bulldogs 7
Forced to overcome a 3-run deficit, the Marauders outscored the Bulldogs 11-1 from innings two through six to claim a fourth straight win over Truman State and complete a weekend sweep in the final Marauders non-conference games of the season. UMary pounded out 16 hits in the game and added three more baserunners by walk and one more who was hit by a pitch.
Paxton Miller earned the win with a strong start, limiting the Bulldogs to three earned runs in five innings.
PIVOT POINT
Down 3-0 entering the second inning, the Marauders erupted to score four and take the lead on a grand slam by
Ben Prediger. Truman State scored a single unearned run in the bottom of the second to tie the game 4-4. The Marauders responded with seven runs over the next four innings to regain control of the game. A run-scoring single by James and a steal of home by Shoen gave the Marauders a 6-4 lead in the third. UMary built an insurmountable 9-4 lead after scoring three times in the fourth when Prediger scored on an error before Shoen blasted a 2-run home run.
INSIDE THE GAME
- Daniel Martin | 3x6, 2 R
- Derek Shoen | 3x4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBIs, SB
- Cal James | 2x4, R, 2 RBIs, 2B, SB
- Krece Papierski | 2x5, 2 R, HR, RBI
- Ben Prediger | 3x4, 2 R, HR, 4 RBIs
- Halen Knoll | 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K
STATS OF THE DAY
6
th in NCAA D2 at 2.0 home runs/game, the Marauders hit three long balls in each of Sunday's contests… UMary has hit multiple home runs in seven of 15 games this season… the Marauders have double digit hits and double digit runs in eight games… seven of nine UMary starters had at least one hit in each game.
NEXT UP
The Marauders open their Northern Sun schedule with three games at Upper Iowa University on March 18-19.
#marauders#
