BISMARCK, ND – The University of Mary outhit St. Cloud State University 15-10 in the third and final game of the Northern Sun series between the two teams but a powerful Huskies attack carried the visitors past the Marauders 13-10. SCSU cracked four home runs in the game and held off a late charge by UMary, which brought the winning run to the plate in the ninth inning.
Carter Shin and
Kieran Gaffney paced the Marauders (16-18 overall, 12-13 NSIC) attack with three hits each. Gaffney was a perfect 3-for-3 in the game, scoring three times and driving in one. He also walked and was hit by a pitch to reach base in all five of his plate appearances. Shin went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving home one run.
Four other Marauders had a pair of hits in the game.
Hank Griffin was 2-for-3 with a triple. Also hit twice by pitches, Griffin scored twice and drove in one run.
Luke Rhee doubled and drove in three runs on two hits.
Isaac Pegors and
Bryce Leafgren also added two hits with Pegors driving in a run and Leafgren scoring once.
Seven Marauders had hits in the game and all nine starters had at least a hit, a run scored or an RBI.
The top four hitters in the SCSU (19-16, 15-10) lineup combined for three home runs, nine hits, ten runs scored and 11 RBIs. Liam Moreno scored four runs from the leadoff slot and cleanup hitter Ethan Navratil finished 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and five RBIs.
After SCSU opened the scoring in the first inning, UMary tied the game in the bottom on the first when
Noah Hull scored on a wild pitch. In the second Rhee singled home Gaffney for a 2-1 Marauders lead.
The Huskies surged to a 6-2 lead with three runs in the third and two in the fourth. Griffin tripled home Gaffney in the bottom of the fourth inning before scoring on an SCSU error to close within 6-4. Once again the Huskies responded, this time with home runs in the fifth and sixth innings to create a 9-4 lead for the visitors.
Refusing to fade away, the Marauders scored twice in both the sixth and seventh innings to close within 9-8. Once again the Huskies retaliated, scoring four times in the eighth with a 3-run home run by Navratil pushing the SCSU advantage to 13-8.
An RBI single by Pegors in the 8
th set up a dramatic 9
th inning for UMary. After a hit batter and back to back singles loaded the bases for UMary,
Keegan Drinkle flew out to center for a sacrifice fly, scoring
Krece Papierski to close the SCSU lead to 13-10. Griffin was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. SCSU escaped further damage by inducing a popup into foul territory for the second out before a ground out to shortstop short-circuited UMary's comeback hopes and secured the Huskies win.
The Marauders left ten runners on base to five for the Huskies.
UMary starts a busy week on Tuesday, April 15, when the Marauders host Highway 83 rival Minot State University in an NSIC twin bill. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 pm at Municipal Ballpark.
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