MANKATO, MINN. – Despite three hits from Connor King, the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (21-20) dropped a 10-4 decision to No. 13 ranked Minnesota State (33-7) in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament first round which opened on Thursday.

No. 8 seeded USF and top seeded Minnesota State will play the second game of a best 2-of-3 series on Friday, May 14 at 2 pm. If USF wins, the Cougars and Mavericks will play a third game with a time to be announced.

Today, the Mavericks opened with a six-run first inning which helped propel them to a 10-4 win in the opener of the series.

USF senior right-hander Keenahn Coyle (3-3) worked 3 1/3 innings and allowed three earned runs and nine hits with two strikeouts and two walks in throwing 65 pitches. Junior Cole Schumacher entered in the fourth inning and finished for USF, allowing just three hits and a run over 4 2/3 innings. In two appearances against MSU, Schumacher has held the Mavericks to four hits and a run in 10 2/3 innings.

Collin Denk (9-0) earned the win for MSU as he worked five innings and allowed seven hits and four runs (two earned) with five strikeouts and a walk in throwing 86 pitches. Jon Ludwig worked the final four innings for MSU to earn his first save as he allowed just one hit.

King had three hits in four at-bats and scored a run. Over the last 10 games, King has hit .425 with 17 hits in 40 at bats and owns a .575 slugging and .500 OBP. As a result, he is now hitting .299 on the season. Tyler Cate and Grant Lung both had two hits in USF's eight-hit attack. Cate pushed his season average to a team-best .362 while Lung is now hitting .284.

Lung, Trey Hubers and Tyler Blackburn had an RBI. MSU was led by Ben Livorsi, who had two hits and three RBI while Joey Werner had three hits and two RBI.

SCORING BREAKDOWN
In the first inning, MSU broke through for six runs, including a three-run home run from Ben Livorsi for a 6-0 lead.

USF battled back and scored a run in the second inning as Trey Hubers scored on a run-scoring double by Tyler Blackburn to cut the deficit to 6-1.

In the third inning, USF scored three to draw even closer at 6-4. King and Cate opened with base hits and scored on an RBI hit from Lung. Then, USF scored on an error and a sacrifice fly from Hubers.  
However MSU regained a five-run margin when Joey Werner hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning.  The Mavericks added their final run in the seventh inning.