BISMARCK, ND – Clutch hits, fortuitous bounces and playing to the last out available, the University of Mary twice rallied for walk-off wins in a doubleheader sweep of Minot State University. Trailing by two runs and down to their final out in both games, the Marauders magically conjured up an 8-7 win in the opener and a 5-4 extra inning victory in game two.
 
UMary improves to 19-13 overall and 12-7 in the Northern Sun. Minot State is 13-19 and 8-14.
 
The Marauders return to the road with three NSIC games at Wayne State College on Saturday and Sunday, April 11-12.
 
GAME 1: University of Mary 8 Minot State University 7
Forced to rally from deficits of five runs and three runs, the University of Mary scored three times with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk-off a stunned Minot State University squad.  
 
The Beavers opened the scoring with five runs in the fourth inning to take what appeared to be a commanding lead. But a pair of Marauders home runs in the fifth – a 3-run blast by Isaac Pegors and a 2-run shot by Hank Griffin – tied the game at 5-5. All five runs scored with two outs after the first two UMary hitters of the inning were retired.
 
Minot State scored single runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings and again looked poised to claim the 7-inning opening game.
 
In the seventh, an Isaac Pegors single was sandwiched by a pair of strikeouts. Down to their final strike, Griffin singled to left on a 1-2 pitch. UMary then loaded the bases with two outs as a chopper towards third by Kieran Gaffney was misplayed by the Beavers defense to keep the Marauders hopes alive.
 
Two pitches later, Luke Rhee singled to right, scoring Pegors and Griffin to tie the game. With the throw home too late to stop Griffin from scoring, Rhee aggressively rounded first and looked to take second. Rhee drew an ill-advised throw from the Beavers catcher that sailed high into center field, allowing Gaffney to score the winning run and setting off a wild on-field celebration by UMary.
 
Pegors went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run. He scored twice and drove in two runs. Griffin finished 2-for-3, homered, scored twice and drove in two runs. Rhee, who reached base three times with a hit and two walks, also drove in two runs.
 
Cole Smith picked up the win with 1.2 innings of relief. He struck out two hitters and gave up just one hit. Ryan Chamberlain, the reigning NSIC Pitcher of the Week, went 5.1 innings and allowed four earned runs.
 
Jake Orthner led the Minot State offense with three hits and three RBIs. Both Orthner and Oscar Pegg homered for the Beavers.
 
GAME 2: UMary 5 Minot State 4
Mikey Ramirez played the game two hero when he delivered the Marauders second straight walk-off win of the day on a single up the middle to score Kieran Gaffney with two outs in the 10^th inning of a 5-4 UMary victory.
 
The Marauders got on the scoreboard in the first inning when Kalem Haney scored his first of three runs in the game on a double play ground ball.
 
UMary's advantage was short-lived as Minot State scored twice in the second to claim a 2-1 lead. The Marauders pulled even in the third when Hank Griffin singled through the middle with two outs to score Haney.
 
The Beavers regained their advantage with single runs in each the fourth and sixth innings, the last run scoring courtesy of a Colton Bagshaw home run.
 
After leaving runners on base in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, UMary once again found a little magic with its back to the wall.
 
With one down in the ninth, Luke Rhee singled to short. After a fly ball to right was caught to once again put the Beavers needing to find just one more out for the win while holding a 2-run lead, Haney singled to right field to keep the Marauders hopes alive.
 
Marcus Butts, who belted a 2-run 9^th inning home run Friday in the Marauders 3-2 win over #14 Augustana, singled through the right side to score Rhee and move Haney to third. Isaac Pegors then singled through the right side to drive home Haney and tie the game at 4-4.
 
Cullen Wilson dominated the tenth inning on the hill for the Marauders, striking out two in a scoreless inning of work. The lone Beavers hitter that reached base was gunned out by Butts attempting to steal second.
 
A one-out single by Gaffney in the bottom of the tenth inning was followed by an epic at bat by freshman Sean Saiki. Down 1-2 in the count, he fouled off two straight pitches to stay alive. The next three pitches sailed out of the strike zone for a hard-earned eight-pitch walk.
 
Luke Rhee lined out to left field for the second out to bring up Ramirez. In another impressive at bat, Ramirez fouled off two straight full count pitches to stay alive before hitting a ground ball up the middle. With the Beavers second baseman deflecting the ball into short right center, Gaffney wheeled around third without hesitation and slid safely head first across home plate to score the winning walk-off run for the second straight game and once again igniting a bench-clearing celebration.
 
Haney rapped out three hits in addition to his three runs to lead the Marauders attack. Butts, Pegors and Griffin both had two hits and one RBI each.
 
Michael Fagerland struck out five hitters in 3.2 innings of relief work for UMary. Jack Thompson followed with 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just two hits and a walk.
 
Bagshaw was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs for Minot State. Jacob Thompson allowed two runs on six hits in five innings.
 
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