Valley City, N.D. – The Mayville State Comets defeated the Bellevue Bruins in the winner-take-all game in the NSAA Conference Tournament by a final score of 16-2. The Comets advance to the NAIA Baseball Opening Round which is scheduled for May 17-20. The selection show is scheduled for 4:00 pm on Thursday.
Game One: Bellevue Bruins 8, Mayville State 2
The Bellevue Bruins scored the first four runs of the game, scoring one run in the top of the second and three in the top of the fifth to take a 4-0 lead on the Comets. The Comets got on the board in the bottom of the fifth on two hits. A double from Forst and hit by a pitch by Satrom put runners on first and second with zero outs. Garpestad singled to center but Forst was thrown out at home trying to score from second base.
The next batter, Villanueva hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Satrom to get MSU on the board. With runners on first and second with two outs, the Comets were looking to add more runs, but Hughes popped out to the second base to end the inning. The Bruins added two more runs in the top of the seventh innings on a two-run home run to jump out to a 6-1 lead. Mayville State added one run with two outs in the seventh inning with a McCorrister single that scored Tyler Ferrera.
Bellevue added two runs in the top of the ninth inning to take game one by a final of 8-2. Michael Theisen recorded two hits in the loss. Skylar Forst tallied two hits in three at-bats for the Comets. Matthew Johnston tallied the loss for the Comets allowing one earned run, three walks, and struck out four in 4.1 innings. Ramsay Taliaferro pitched 4.0 innings allowing six hits, three earned runs, and two walks. Jesse O'Connell pitched 0.2 innings allowing one hit.
Game Two: Mayville State 16, Bellevue 2
The Comets scored runs in the first five innings of the game. The first run of the game was scored on an error by the third baseman from the Bruins that led to Hughes crossing home plate to give the Comets a 1-0 lead. Mayville State added three more runs in the second inning on a three-run blast off the bat of Marcus Wohl to give the Comets a 4-0 lead.
Mayville State added one run in the top of the third inning on a single off the bat off of Theisen to score McCorrister to jump out to a five-run advantage. Bellevue University added their first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning on a double from Banks to cut the lead to four. MSU answered the Bruin run in the top of the fourth inning scoring two runs on three hits. Wohl continued his big game driving in Satrom on a single to left field. Later in the inning, McCorrister singles to center to score Ferrera and extend the lead to six.
MSU opened the game in the top of the fifth inning on three runs on five hits, starting with a single from Satrom to right field that scored Forst. The second run of the inning was scored on a sacrifice fly from Wohl that scored Garpestad. Satrom would score on a wild pitch during the next at-bat to give the Comets a 10-1 lead. The Comets would score two runs in the top of the seventh, one in the eighth, and three in the top of the ninth to cruise to a 16-2 victory and an NSAA Championship.
Marcus Wohl led the Comets with three hits, one run scored, six runs batted in, and one walk. Sammy Satrom tallied three hits as well, with four runs scored, and one run batted in. Marcus Hughes recorded three hits, with one run batted in, and one run scored. Skylar Forst was the last Comet with three hits, he also had 2 RBI's and two runs scored. All nine starters tallied at least one hit in the game. Parker Stohr picked up the win going 5.0 innings allowing five hits, one earned run, one walk, and seven strikeouts. Connor DiNaro picked up the save going 4.0 innings allowing five hits, one earned run, three walks, and four strikeouts.
