BISMARCK, ND – A combined shutout by Lukas Frers and Mark Schommer carried the University of Mary baseball team to a 1-0 win and a doubleheader split with Southwest Minnesota State University. The Mustangs rebounded to take the nightcap 7-6 and maintain a slight edge on the Marauders in the Northern Sun standings.
With one game remaining in the weekend 3-game set between UMary (21-21 overall, 17-15 NSIC) and SMSU (24-18, 18-15), the two teams are tied in the loss column with the Mustangs holding one more win than the Marauders 18-17. UMary will look to forge ahead of SMSU when the two teams meet at 12 noon on Sunday, April 28. The game has been relocated and will be played at Memorial Ballpark in Mandan. Senior Day on Sunday, the Marauders will honor 16 scholar-athletes following the game.
Including Sunday against the Mustangs, the Marauders have six regular season games remaining. Only Sunday's game is at home.
GAME 1 UMary 1 SMSU 0
With the reigning NSIC Pitcher of the Week
Lukas Frers on the hill to start the game and dominant closer
Mark Schommer available to finish the contest, the Marauders generated the only run needed in the first inning.
Facing a 2-out situation with a runner on third,
Noah Hull pulled a double down the right field line to score
Kalem Haney for a quick 1-0 lead.
Frers, who posted 12 strikeouts in five shutout innings a week prior in a win over Sioux Falls, had a second straight dominant start. The senior lefthander retired eight straight hitters from the end of the first inning through the third. Following a walk to leadoff hitter in the 4
th inning Frers induced a double play. He escaped any possible damage in the fifth with another twin killing after a leadoff single.
In the sixth, Frers gave up a 1-out single and subsequently replaced by Schommer with two outs. The senior from New Ulm, MN, closed out the inning when
Ben Prediger threw a runner out attempting to steal second.
Schommer then struck out the side in the seventh to close out the UMary win.
Frers allowed just four hits and one walk in 5.2 scoreless innings while striking out four. Frers has now thrown 10.2 scoreless innings between his last two starts.
Schommer struck out all three batters he faced to pick up his fourth save with 1.1 scoreless innings.
Daniel Martin had two of the Marauders five hits on the day.
Kolby Kiser took the loss for SMSU. In a 6-inning complete game effort Kiser allowed one run on five hits. He struck out two.
GAME 2 SMSU 7 UMary 6
The Marauders left the tying run on second base in the 9
th inning of a narrow 7-6 loss. After briefly moving into sixth place in the NSIC standings, the Marauders dropped back to seventh as the Mustangs halted UMary's 7-game win streak.
The Marauders opened the scoring on a run-scoring single by
Noah Hull in the third inning. SMSU claimed the lead with three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the seventh. UMary closed the gap in the eighth inning to 5-3 on a run-scoring double by
Dylan Edmands and an RBI base hit from
Daniel Martin.
SMSU scored what proved to be a needed pair of insurance runs to increase the Mustangs lead to 7-3. With the bases loaded and two outs in the home half of the ninth inning,
Carter Beck cleared the bases with a double to right center before the next batter was retired to end the game.
Beck led the Marauders attack with three hits. He scored a run and drove in three.
Kalem Haney had two hits and scored a run. Hull finished with a pair of hits and one RBI.
Alec Danen had a good start for the Marauders. The lefty starter struck out seven in five innings of work, allowing just two earned runs on five hits and two walks.
Carter Petron struck out 12 for the Mustangs in eight innings of work.
Jake Tauer had two hits and three RBIs for SMSU. Isaac Nett had two hits and scored two runs.
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