Baseball Drops Pair To No. 10 Minnesota State Mankato

The Northwood baseball team dropped a pair of games to No. 10 Minnesota State Mankato Wednesday afternoon (March 13).  The Mavericks won the games by the scores of 2-1 and 10-3.

The Timberwolves are now 4-4 overall.  Mankato improves to 9-3.

Northwood held a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to Seth Szafranski (Coldwater, Mich./Kellogg CC) RBI single in the second inning.  Mankato came back in the bottom of the fifth inning to score a pair of runs, scoring on an RBI single and a bases loaded walk.  NU had runners on base in both the sixth and the seventh innings but were unable to plate the tying run.  Jason Fracassa (Sterling Heights, Mich./Stevenson) had two of Northwood's six hits in the game. Luke Bivens (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview) allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings of work.

Mankato took control of game two early, scoring three runs in the first inning.  MSU then scored four more runs in the third to make the score 7-0.  Tyler Beatty (Clare, Mich.) had Northwood's first home run of the season in the game, while Zac Zoellner (Traverse City, Mich./Central) and Eric Altman (West Bloomfield, Mich. /St. Clair) each added RBI's in the fifth.

Northwood will play a single game against St. Joseph's Thursday (March 14).  Game time is set for 10 a.m.