St. Cloud State University

Baseball

Husky Baseball: SCSU 7-4, MSU 0-6

BASEBALL: Season Ends With Doubleheader Split with Minnesota State

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Kent Koch

St. Cloud, Minn. – David Deminsky broke the Husky single season record for strikeouts, and Tim Radmacher broke the mark for appearances, but it was not enough to earn the Huskies a berth in the NSIC tournament.  After a 7-0 win in game one, the Huskies could not get the key hit so desperately needed, as Minnesota State won game two 6-4 to end SCSU’s season Sunday afternoon at Joe Faber Field.  

It looked as if it would be the Huskies (36-18, 15-13 NSIC) day in game one, as Deminsky (Sartell) broke Larry Vergin’s  46-year old record in the first inning when he struck out Kosuke Hattori. Deminsky struck out seven on the day, setting the new bar for strikeouts in a season at 88.

The Huskies took their first lead of the series in the third inning. Kyle Gold (Apple Valley) walked to start the inning and moved up on a Joe Kroc (Austin) bunt. Nate Johnson (Austin) and Nate Hammes (Lake Elmo) followed that with two singles, as Gold scored on the Hammes hit for a 1-0 lead. The Huskies tacked on another run on a Maverick (32-14, 25-5) passed ball for the 2-0 lead.

Taking a page from the Maverick book, the Huskies used a huge two-out hit from Kroc in the fourth. With Jeff Heuer (Brooklyn Park) on third and Brandon Peyer (Reedsburg, Wis.) on second, Kroc looked overmatched, down 0-2 in the count. Kroc came through however, muscling a Chris Odegaard fastball down the right field line to make it a 4-0 Husky advantage.

Mic Johnson (Fergus Falls) gave SCSU their third straight two-run inning with a two-run home run in the fifth. Johnson launched an Odegaard fastball up in the wind and over the 375 sign in right center for a 6-0 Husky lead.

The Huskies put one more on the board in the sixth, as a single and three straight walks, the third an RBI walk to Hammes, gave the Huskies a 7-0 cushion. Deminsky took care of things from there finishing the complete game shutout by striking out the side in the seventh.

Deminsky improved to 7-1 with his second complete game of the season, while Odegaard fell to 4-5 despite striking out 11 Huskies.

The Mavericks turned the tide in game two, wasting no time in getting on the board, as Danny Miller followed a Jay Bresnahan single with a long home run to right field for a 2-0 Maverick lead.

SCSU answered with a home run of its own to make it a 2-1 ballgame in the first. Hammes continued his solid afternoon, lacing a line drive over the 375 sign in right center for his sixth dinger of 2009.

Hammes led the offense on the day, going a perfect 3-3 in game one, and 5-7 with two runs and three RBI on the day.

The Huskies received a huge momentum boost in the top of the second. After two Husky errors in the outfield to start the inning, the Mavs had runners on second and third with nobody out. After a Corey LaPlante popout, Kosuke Hattori flied one to shallow center. Nate Johnson atoned for an earlier error, by throwing out Travis Taran at the plate for an inning-ending double play.

However, MSU started to pull away in the fifth with another piece of clutch-hitting. Aaron Berner came up with the bases loaded and two outs and came through for the Mavericks singling to center to bring in two runs to give the Mavericks some breathing room with a 4-1 lead. The Mavericks added a run on a wild pitch to make it a four-run cushion.

Minnesota kept their bats going in the sixth, as four straight singles off Nick Anderson (Brainerd) and Pat DeLaHunt (Apple Valley) led to the sixth Maverick run.

The Huskies made a valiant comeback in the seventh as singles by Kroc and Nate Johnson were followed by a Mic Johnson home run to make it a 6-4 game. Sam Radbil (Milwaukee, Wis.) singled to bring the tying run to the plate, but Heuer grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

Johnson's at-bat turned out to be the last of his college career, as he finished with the outright team lead in home runs with nine.

Radmacher (Rosemount) started the game on the mound, breaking the single season record for appearances with his 18^th. He suffered the loss, going 2.1 innings and allowing two runs. Casey Kowalski was the winning pitcher for MSU, going four innings and striking out three.

St. Cloud State ends the season with a team record 36 wins. The Huskies were passed by Augustana in the NSIC standings, falling half a game behind the Vikings for the final spot in the NSIC standings. Numerous records, individual and team, were broken this season in what will go down as the most successful season in Husky Baseball history.

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