×

Situational hitting leads MSU baseball to sweep

Sean Arbaut/Minot State athletics Minot State celebrates a walk-off victory Saturday at Corbett Field.

A walk-off, a pitcher’s duel and a slugfest.

Saturday’s Minot State baseball doubleheader at Corbett Field had a bit of everything.

MSU (25-14, 23-6 NSIC) completed a doubleheader sweep of Upper Iowa (14-18, 12-14), taking Game 1 2-1 and Game 2 7-4.

In Game 1, the Beavers got on the board first following an RBI single from catcher Dustin Wilcox in the second inning. MSU starting pitcher Jaymon Cervantes held that lead for six innings, escaping jams in the fourth and the sixth.

Yet, Upper Iowa’s Riley Braughton hit a game-tying home run in the top of the seventh, getting just enough of Cervantes’ pitch to sneak a solo shot over the 316-foot right field fence.

Sean Arbaut/Minot State athletics Michael Borst waits for his teammates to arrive after hitting the game-winning double Saturday.

In the bottom frame, MSU’s Trevaun Smith set the stage for late-game heroics with a two-out single off Upper Iowa starter Brett Fanning. Junior outfielder Michael Borst responded by slicing a game-winning double into left field, giving the Beavers a Game 1 victory.

“I just told Trevaun right before his at-bat, ‘Just give me a chance.’ He looked at me, and gave me a head nod,” Borst said. “The pitcher hung a curveball and it was the only pitch he gave me up the whole day. It went down the line and took a nice hop off the fence. Trevaun is battling an ankle injury, so that gave him enough time to get around the bases.”

Cervantes earned the win after pitching seven innings, only allowing one run on seven hits while striking out six batters. Fanning took the loss, giving up two runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings of work.

“Jaymon threw the ball really well today,” MSU coach Scott Eul said. “He was pretty firm and had a couple different breaking balls working. He kept getting ahead of hitters.”

In Game 2, the Beavers quickly dug themselves a big hole after Upper Iowa scored four runs in the second inning. Justin Demary drove in a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to reduce the deficit to 4-1, then MSU had a big inning of its own in the fourth. With the bases loaded, Wyatt Schlosser hit a sacrifice fly, then Celestino Rodriguez hit a three-run shot to right center field to give the Beavers a 5-4 lead.

The Peacocks had a bases-loaded threat with one out in the seventh inning, but MSU reliever Tannar Galey got Zac Cain to hit into a double-play to preserve the Beavers’ lead.

“Our defense turned some pretty nifty double plays there, which was nice,” Eul said. “I don’t think we came out quite as sharp as we would have liked, that four-run inning probably should have been a zero-run inning. But we picked ourselves up and got two wins.”

MSU picked up two key insurance runs in the eighth, then Jack Gamba escaped another bases-loaded jam in the ninth with a double play.

“This is one of the first times I’ve ever seen our middle infield turn this many double plays,” Borst said.

MSU is back in action at noon today in its regular season home finale against Upper Iowa.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today