Minot State senior Jessen West batted .297 with a home run, 12 RBIs and 19 runs scored during the regular season. The Beavers are the No. 7 seed in the NSIC Tournament, making their first postseason appearance since 2023. Mike Kraft/MDN

It’s the dream of every coach for their team to be playing at their apex come postseason time.

That’s exactly where Minot State baseball coach Sam Boisner and the Beavers find themselves as they make their first trip back to the NSIC Tournament since 2023, where they will be the No. 7 seed. Minot State opens its postseason play against No. 2 seed Minnesota State-Mankato in the first round of the double-elimination tournament on Wednesday, May 6, in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The Beavers (26-23 overall, 20-18 NSIC) enter the tournament winners of 13 of their last 15 games. Minot State amassed 73 runs over its last nine games, winning eight.

“We’re definitely playing our best baseball,” Boisner said. “We’re putting together all facets between pitching, defense and hitting coming together down the stretch.”

Boisner guided the Beavers to the NSIC Tournament in his first season at the helm, where the team lost its opener to Minnesota Crookston and were eliminated the following day in extra innings by Winona State. The Beavers haven’t been back to the postseason since, producing a 32-66 overall record and 23-56 conference record over the last two seasons.

For the majority of the roster, this will be their first trip to the NSIC Tournament, adding a shot of adrenalin to the Beavers.

“Those last couple of years in ’24 and ’25 were a little challenging, so to get back, all the guys are extremely fired up,” Boisner said. “Sometimes, I think that makes us pretty dangerous. We know we’re capable of being there and have been, but still hungry, where it provides a little more juice for our group compared to others.”

Over the course of the season, the Beavers have had stretches of solid hitting, fielding and pitching, but never at the same time. During the home stretch of the regular season, all three phases of the game came together, allowing the Beavers to make a late charge and secure one of the top eight spots in the standings required to advance to the postseason.

“Early on in the year we started off hitting really well, but the defense and pitching hadn’t come together and then it flipped where our pitching and our defense was really good, but offensively we were having a tough time,” Boisner said. “We lost probably eight 1-run ball games before our last 15 games and some of those 1-run losses was a phase of our game that wasn’t very good in those certain games. Now coming down the stretch, all the phases are working, so we’re winning some close ones and we’re consistent where everything’s clicking. Ultimately, we thought we were capable in three phases, but putting it together is always the challenge and through the last 15 games, we certainly put it together.”

Offensively, Minot State finished the regular season with a .285 batting average and had five hitters bat over .300. Wyatt Toth led the team with a .340 average, driving in 17 RBIs. Oscar Pegg recorded 10 home runs along with four doubles, three triples, 25 RBIs and 24 runs scored. Cowen Meyer added eight home runs and hit .325 with 29 RBIs and 30 runs scored. Noah Madas, Mike Williamson and Colton Bagshaw all registered six homers. Madas and Vinnie Gates led the team with 32 RBIs and Williamson had a team-best 10 doubles.

Bagshaw also delivered on the mound as the team’s ace. He led the team with a 4.10 ERA, allowing 31 earned runs in 68 innings pitched – second most in the NSIC. He struck out 55 batters. He was named second-team all-NSIC.

Ayden Sauerbrei and Toth were the other two innings eaters for the Beavers. Sauerbrei tossed 66 2/3 innings, sporting a 4.72 ERA while striking out a team-high 65. Toth holds a 5.29 ERA over 64 2/3 innings with 50 strikeouts.

Bagshaw, Sauerbrei and Toth accounted for just over 50 percent of the team’s innings pitched.

Defensively, the Beavers committed 57 errors – tied for the fifth least in the NSIC. They allowed a total of 298 runs.

“Recently, we’ve understood offensively when to trade outs for runs and when to look for big innings,” Boisner said. “We’ve done a nice job with situational hitting and situational defense and ultimately the pitching has been good, but that has been pretty good the whole year. Situational play has led us to this point.”

The Beavers haven’t played Minnesota State since March 13-14, where they dropped all three contests. The offense managed just four runs on 14 hits in three games, while allowing 25 runs on 31 hits.

The three losses dropped Minot State under .500, where they would remain until April 26. It set off a stretch where the Beavers lost 9 of 11, dropping them to 10-15 overall and 5-10 in conference play at the time. Boisner said it’s hard to take much from that series since it was nearly two months ago.

“It’s not even really the same thing because we’re not really the same team and nor are they,” Boisner said. “But we’ve seen some of those arms, whether it be Mack Crowley or Sam George. We’ve had the opportunity to see those guys, so at least there’s some familiarity, but ultimately we’re looking at matchups and we’re not even really running with the same lineup.”

Mankato has the top three pitchers as it relates to ERA. George and Daniel Zang sported a league-best 2.61 ERA and Crowley was right behind them with a 2.88 ERA. They were the only three NSIC pitchers this season with an ERA under 3.00.

While Wednesday’s contest isn’t an elimination game, the Beavers are still coming in with the mindset that it’s win or go home, as no team has lost on the opening day and gone on to win the tournament. To avoid falling into the loser’s bracket, Boisner said the key is to avoid making the mistake that leads to extended innings, as it taxes the bullpen and has a trickle down effect from there.

“Getting off to a good start is one, and then I think the second piece of it as you get rolling is whoever is going to make the least amount of mistakes, avoiding big innings,” Boisner said. “All the games are going to be tight. It’s those ones that get away from you and start to have to use a lot of pitching early on in the tournament and it becomes really hard in the end. The key is to eliminate mistakes and eliminate big innings.”

The Beavers will be seeking their first postseason victory since winning a pair of elimination games against U-Mary and St. Cloud State in 2022. Minot State’s last first-round victory came in 2019 when the Beavers advanced to the NSIC Championship.