Mavericks Fall to Colorado State-Pueblo at NCAA Division II Regional Friday; Minnesota State Drops 13-4 Decision and Completes Year with 38-17 Record

Grand Junction, Colo. — Minnesota State fell by a 13-4 margin to CSU-Pueblo at the 2009 NCAA Division II Central Region tournament being held in Grand Junction, Colo.

Coupled with a tournament-opening loss to Southwest Minnesota State yesterday, today’s loss eliminates the Mavericks from the six-team, double-elimination tournament.

The ThunderWolves scored a run in the bottom of the first, but the Mavericks responded with a run in the top of the third when Geno Glynn’s ground ball was mishandled by the CSU-Pueblo second baseman with the bases loaded, allowing sophomore catcher Steven Helget to score from third.

Mark Sayas belted a two-run homer to left in the bottom of the third to make it a 3-1 CSU-Pueblo lead and when MSU starter Brett Fratzke balked in a run in the fourth, it became a 4-1 lead.

Glynn’s sacrifice fly to right plated Kosuke Hattori in the top of the fifth and then when Hattori’s sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth scored Matt Kuchenbecker, the ThunderWolves led by one.

Pueblo parlayed a hit batsman and five hits into five runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 9-3 lead. The Mavericks got a run back in top of the seventh on Aaron Berner’s sacrifice fly to right, which scored sophomore leftfielder Danny Miller, but the ThunderWolves tacked on four runs in the seventh to round out the scoring.

Fratzke, who gave up three hits, three earned runs, two walks and struck out one in four innings, took the loss and finishes the season with a 4-3 record.

With the loss Minnesota State completes the 2009 campaign with a 38-17 overall record.

CSU-Pueblo now stands 40-21 on the year. Dillon Meaney, who now stands 7-1, went the distance for the Thunderwolves, scattering eight hits and limiting the Mavericks to three earned runs while walking five and striking out five.

MSU Notes: Senior infielder Geno Glynn’s 58 runs batted in this year ranks second on MSU’s all-time single-season list - finishing only behind Jason Pfingsten’s 59 RBI in 1996. Senior infielder Jay Bresnahan totalled 202 career hits in his four seasons with the Mavericks to rank second on MSU’s all-time list (infielder Eric Lonnquist had 227 hits from 1999-2002).