SIOUX FALLS, SD – After staving off elimination in the Northern Sun baseball tournament for three straight games, the University of Mary's hopes of advancing to the championship round ended one game short. In the first game of the day for UMary, the Marauders scored twice in the eighth inning to break a tie in an 11-9 win over Winona State University as
Kalem Haney broke the school record for hits in a career. But UMary's hopes of playing in a championship game and winning the NSIC tournament ended with a 6-2 loss to #16 Minnesota State University in game two on the day for the Marauders.
The Marauders finished third in the tournament and is 37-18 this season. Winona State closes the season with a record of 26-26. Minnesota State is 40-13 and will face Augustana for the tournament championship on Saturday.
Now UMary waits to see if the Marauders qualify for postseason play. UMary ranked seventh in the final NCAA Central Region rankings on Wednesday prior to the release of the tournament field. NCAA tournament qualifiers will be announced Sunday, May 10, at 9 pm on
www.ncaa.com.
GAME 1: University of Mary 11 Winona State University 9
Luke Rhee doubled to center field in the eighth inning to score
Kieran Gaffney, breaking a 9-9 tie and keeping the Marauders tournament championship hopes alive.
Kalem Haney, who led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run, paced the Marauders offense with three hits plus a walk in six plate appearances. He scored twice and drove in two runs on his way to becoming the Marauders all-time hit king.
The All-NSIC second baseman entered the day needing two hits to tie
Noah Hull's career record of 206 hits. Following his first inning home run, Haney tied the record with a run-scoring single in the fourth inning. The native of Lethbridge, Alberta, broke Hull's record with a 2-out single in the eighth inning.
Cru Walker joined Haney with a 3-hit day and scored three times. The UMary senior catcher tied his career-high for both hits and runs scored.
Winona State opened the scoring with a single run in the first. A Haney home run and a
Hank Griffin RBI single gave UMary a 2-1 lead.
UMary appeared to break open the game with five runs in the third inning to take an 8-3 lead. After the Warriors closed the game to 8-6, Haney's RBI single in the fourth to score
Cru Walker gave UMary a 9-6 lead.
Winona State continued to claw back, scoring two in the sixth before pulling even in the 8
th inning.
UMary wasted no time in regaining the lead in the bottom of the inning. Gaffney walked with one out and scored from first on a double by
Luke Rhee, who soon scored on a Warriors error.
Cole Smith capped a strong day for UMary relievers by pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Following a leadoff double, Smith retired the next three hitters to earn his ninth save breaking the Marauders old record of eight, set by Chad Kruckenberg in 1998 and Travis Dressler in 2004.
Marcus Butts and Gaffney both scored twice for UMary.
Jacob Burgess pitched 3.2 innings of relief, allowing two runs with three strikeouts.
Sam Hayen struck out two players and allowed one run in the eighth inning before
Cole Smith pitched a scoreless ninth inning for UMary.
Dylan Harer led the Warriors with three hits and two runs scored.
GAME 2: #16 Minnesota State University 6 University of Mary 2
UMary relief pitchers held Minnesota State University to one run over the last four innings but the Marauders offense was unable to match the early scoring by the Mavericks in a 6-2 loss.
An elimination game with the winner moving to the championship game and the loser hoping to hear their name called Sunday as being selected to compete in the NCAA Central Region playoff, the Marauders took a 2-1 lead in the second inning on a long
Bryce Leafgren home run and a
Cru Walker run-scoring double.
The Mavericks tied the game in the bottom of the second before slowly creating separation. A Louis Magers home run in the third gave Minnesota State a 3-2 lead. The Mavericks then scored twice in the fourth inning and once again in the sixth to build a 6-2 advantage.
UMary had runners on base in all innings but the eighth but couldn't find a way to score.
Leafgren finished the game with two hits with a home run. Mike Ramirez also had two hits while
Luke Rhee reached base three times on walks. Rhee scored once and had a stolen base.
Jack Thompson held the Mavericks to one run in two innings of relief.
Kaden Coldwell and
Brody Wrench both pitched one scoreless inning each.
Cale Haugen picked up the win for MSU after limiting UMary to two runs in 5.2 innings. Ben Irsfeld held UMary to one hit over 3.1 innings to earn a save. Cole Yearsley had two hits for the Mavericks – a double and a triple - and scored twice and drove in a run.
#marauders#
