The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Golden Eagles Baseball team allowed five runs in the first innings and four home runs in their game against St. Cloud State in a 14-0 loss in the first round of the NSIC Tournament at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Najee Gaskins (Jr., Vail, AZ) led off the bottom of the first inning with a single for the Huskies to spark their offense. Mitch Mallek (Sr., Plover, WI) was hit by a pitch putting runners on first and second base before Mathew Meyer (Sr., St. Stephen) homered to left-center field giving St. Cloud State a 3-0 lead. Toran Shahidi (Sr., Ames, IA) extended the opening inning with a two-out single before Caeden Harris (Sr., Leawood, KS) walked giving SCSU runners on first and second base. Aaron Hammann (Jr., Parker, CO) capped off the inning with a double scoring Shahidi and Harris giving St. Cloud State a 5-0 lead after one inning. “It’s tough to come back,” said UMC head coach Steve Gust after his team fell behind 5-0. “With their best guy on the mound and they find a way to put five up in the first inning, that’s difficult, but we’ve got to respond in a better way.”
In the second inning, the Huskies offense continued to produce with Mathew Meyer driving in Lenny Walker (Jr., Tolleson, AZ) with a sacrifice fly to right field boosting the host’s lead to 6-0 after two innings.
Scott Finberg (Jr., Stillwater) doubled in the top of the third inning for UMC’s first hit of the game but was stranded at third base to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Ethan Ibarra (Sr., Las Vegas, NV) drilled a two-run home run into center field for the Huskies’ second home run of the day pushing St. Cloud State’s lead to 8-0 after three innings.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Mitch Mallek hit the Huskies’ third home run of the day with a solo shot over the right field fence giving SCSU a 9-0 edge after four innings. “We fell behind a little bit (in pitch counts),” explained Gust of his team’s pitching woes. “I didn’t think we changed speeds all that well. They were sitting on a lot of pitches, and they took advantage of a hit-batsmen and some walks, and that’s where you get the crooked numbers. Give them credit, they’re a good baseball team, but we’ve got to do some things better.”
The Golden Eagles used a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases but were unable to scrape across their first run with a pop-up in foul territory by third base ending the top of the fifth inning with UMC still in search of one run.
Dominic Austing (Sr., Sauk Rapids) looked the part of an ace pitcher in his five scoreless innings setting the Huskies up for success after exiting in line for the victory following five innings of three-hit baseball exiting with a 9-0 lead. “When you throw 90 miles-per-hour plus and can be around the plate, and throw three pitches for strikes you’re going to be good,” explained Gust of Austing’s dominance on the mound. “That’s what he did. I thought we had some good at-bats early in the game. We had some scoring opportunities. We just didn’t have a big hit in there.”
UMC wasn’t able to muster any offense against St. Cloud State’s bullpen while the Huskies’ bats continued to have little trouble. With the bases loaded on three-straight walks in the bottom of the sixth inning, Toran Shahidi launched a hit over the scoreboard in left field for a grand slam to provide the final exclamation point on a convincing 14-0 win for St. Cloud State. “They took it to us,” summarized Gust. “Are we disappointed with our effort? Of course, we are. In a game like this that meant so much, give (SCSU) credit too. They can do it all. They took advantage of some of our mistakes on the mound and in the field and really did a nice job defensively.”
As UMC looks to bounce back tomorrow with no margin for error the rest of the season, Gust remained optimistic that his team will bounce back from a disappointing defeat to open the tournament, “I’m disappointed, I’m not gonna lie. We thought we could compete with the best, even with their best on the mound. We thought we could do some things and I don’t think we were awful. They pounced on every little thing that we didn’t do right. As far as if I’ve lost hope with the team, absolutely not. We weren’t awful, and I think we can come back tomorrow and be better because of it. I know the guys will be hungry. We’ll fight, we’ll claw, we’ll scratch, and we’ll do whatever it takes.”
UMC falls to 28-20 overall and will look to stave off elimination Friday morning at 11:30 a.m. when they return to Dick Putz field to face Northern State on KROX. St. Cloud State improves to 39-10 and will take on Minnesota State-Mankato at 2:30 p.m.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| UMC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| SCSU | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | x | 14 | 15 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Zach Rustad – UMC | 3.2 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
| Matt Nelson – UMC | 1.1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Graeme Cherry – UMC | 3.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Dominic Austing – SCSU | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Trevor Koenig – SCSU | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kyle Boser – SCSU | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zach Siggelkow – SCSU | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan Wesely – SCSU | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dylan Haskamp – SCSU | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
For UMC
Bryce Jorgenson 2-5
Scott Finberg 1-2, double
Mason Ruhlman 1-2
Landyn Swenson 1-2
For St. Cloud State
Matthew Meyer 1-2, 3 run home run, 4 rbi
Toran Shahidi 2-4, grand slam, 4 rbi
Ethan Ibarra 2-3, 2 run home run, 3 rbi
Mitch Mallek 3-3, home run
Aaron Hammann 3-4, 2 doubles, 2 rbi
Caeden Harris 2-4
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