River Falls, Wisc. – The Comets Baseball team was set to play a 4 game conference series against Viterbo this weekend in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Due to weather conditions, the games were moved to First National Bank River Falls Field in River Falls, Wisconsin.

Mayville State would play one game Friday and a triple header on Saturday.

"I'd like to just start by saying thank you to Rocky Larson. Wednesday afternoon turned into scramble mode for myself and the coaching staff looking for a neutral site to play on this weekend," said head coach Billy Tomblin. "Rocky made a call to River Falls and within an hour we had a facility. He has done a great job in his role as AD and I really appreciate his assistance in getting these games in."

The Comets would split on the weekend, dropping game one on Friday but bouncing back and winning 2 of the 3 on Saturday.

Game 1: L 1-3
Game one would be a low offensive game for both teams. The V-Hawks would score one run in the 2^nd, 4^th & 6^th and only allow the Comets to score one run in the game.

Mayville State would have a few opportunities to score as they would leave a runner stranded on base in 6 of the 7 innings.

In the 4^th the only run scored would come from a Riley Rankin 2 out double, driving in Carson Lundmark who smoked a double two at bats before.

The Comets would threaten in the 7^th, drawing a walk and hitting a single, but Viterbo would close the game and win 3-1.

Marcus Hughes went 3-3, 1 BB
Carson Lundmark went 1-3, 1 2B
Riley Rankin went 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI
 
Gregor Farquharson got the start for the Comets. He would give up 3 runs on 8 hits while striking out a career high of 8!

Caiden Schwehr would be called from the bull pen to close in out in the 6^th inning giving up 0 runs on 0 hits.

Game 2: W 4-3
Mayville State would look to bounce back Saturday morning where they would play 3 in a row.

Marcus Hughes led the game off with a single to third and would advance to second on an error by a V-Hawks pitcher.

Chris Shopbell then drew a walk and both Hughes & Shopbell would be put into scoring position after another error by the Viterbo pitcher.

Carson Lundmark, who leads the team in RBIs, would step up to the plate with 1 out and he would hit a double, scoring both Shopbell and Hughes.

The Comets would lead the V-Hawks 2-0 in the first but they would be able to plate one run in the bottom of the 2^nd and tie things up in the 3^rd.

Things would stay knotted until the top of the 5^th when back to back singles by Ricky Marquez and Hughes and a passed ball would put both into scoring position with no outs.

Shopbell came up to the plate and drove both Marquez and Hughes in by hitting a single to left field. Comets lead 4-2.

Viterbo would threaten in the 5^th by scoring one run, but the Comets would be able to hold them off and take the game 4-3.

Marcus Hughes went 2-3
Chris Shopbell went 1-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB
Carson Lundmark went 1-3, 2 RBI, 1 2B
Ricky Marquez went 2-3, 1 2B
 
Austin McClure would get his 7^th start of the season on the mound for the Comets. He gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and struck out 4 in 4 innings.

Gunner Thompson came in relief for McClure, going a 3 full innings, giving up only 1 hit and striking out 6 which was a career high.

Game 3: W 9-1
Mayville State would take their momentum into game 3 of the series, scoring 9 runs off of 10 hits.

Hughes continued his hot streak at the plate by leading the game off with a double down the left field line.

With two outs and Hughes at third, Carson Lundmark would be able to drive him in with a single.

Viterbo would respond right away with their only run of the game, tying things up for a very short time.

Rankin and Sam Hilgersom would lead the 2^nd inning off with back to back singles and end up in scoring position. Rankin would score on a passed ball and Hilgersom would cross the plate soon after.

Things would be quiet for both teams until the top of the 5^th where the Comets scored 4 runs on 2 hits.

Hughes kept doing his job as a lead off, finding his way to first on a walk. He would then steal putting himself in scoring position. Hughes leads the team in stolen bases and has only been throw out twice.

Anthony Villanueva would reach first on an error and Shopbell would be hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Lundmark.

Lundmark would single to left scoring Hughes, making it 4-1.

Zachary Evanochko then hit a sac fly to left, scoring Villanueva to extend the lead 5-1.

A double steal would put Lundmark and Shopbell at 2^nd and 3^rd and Rankin would come up to the plate driving them both in with a single to right field.

Heading into the bottom of the 5^th the Comets lead 7-1.

They wouldn't be satisfied with just 7 runs; they would tack on 2 more in the top of the 7^th on a sac fly from Michael Feralio and a pinch hit double from Avery Kirkup.

Marcus Hughes went 2-3, 1 BB, 1 2B, 1 SB
Carson Lundmark went 3-3, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SB
Riley Rankin went 3-4, 2 RBI
Avery Kirkup went 1-1, 1 RBI, 1 2B
 
Derek Palmier had a stellar outing on the mound for the Comets. He would pitch a full 7 innings giving up just 1 run on 2 hits. He would strike out 4.

"Game 3 started with a great outing from Derek. We backed him up with a very clean defensive game and offensively we had 6 different hitters drive in runs. We executed our situational hitting, got our bunts down and applied non-stop pressure," added Tomblin. "That's what Comet baseball is all about and that's what this team is capable of."

Game 4: L 0-8
Entering the final game of the triple header, the Comets would look to sweep the day, but the V-Hawks would utilize situational hitting and score runs in each of the first 5 innings beating the Comets 8-0.

The bats would be quiet for the Comets as they only had 3 hits in the game.

Hilgersom would single to right in the 5^th, Hughes would single to left in the 6^th, and Ethan Tingey had a pinch hit double in the 7^th, but that would be all for Mayville State.

The Comets would utilize 4 pitchers in the game with Calvin Watkins having the chunk of the innings, he would give up 3 runs on 3 hits in 3 innings.

"It was another weekend filled with missed opportunities," said a frustrated Tomblin. "I sound like a broken record with that line as it seems to be a theme of this season but what we did in game 3 [won 9-1] of the series is what I know this team is capable of doing on a daily basis, so anything less than that is not meeting the standing and is not acceptable."

Mayville State looks to have their home opener next weekend where they will host Bellevue Friday and Saturday.

For full schedule details visit: https://msucomets.com/sports/baseball/schedule