By Mark Potts
VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Mayville State University won the NSAA Baseball Postseason Championship on Monday afternoon, defeating Bellevue University in a winner-take-all title game.
The Comets scored in each of the first five innings as they built a 10-1 lead and coasted to a 16-2 victory. Mayville State earns the conference’s automatic berth to the NAIA Opening Round. Mayville will find out its location and opponent when the national tournament bracket is announced Thursday at 4 p.m.
Bellevue University is a host site for the NAIA Opening Round and will advance as well. The Bruins will also find out their opponent on Thursday afternoon.
Top seed Bellevue entered Monday needing to defeat the No. 2-seeded Comets twice. The Bruins got it done in game one, winning 8-2 behind a strong pitching performance from Alexandro Celiceo. That forced a winner-take-all game two, which was all about the Comet offense.
Mayville State scored one run in the first inning and then Marcus Wohl hit a three-run home run in the top of the second inning to start the hit parade. Wohl drive in six runs during the title game as Mayville State rolled to a 16-2 victory.
The Comets added another run in the third, two more in the fourth and then three more runs in the fifth to open up a 10-1 lead. The Comets tacked on runs in the final three innings as well, finishing with 19 hits.
Parker Stohr started for the Comets and went five innings, allowing just five hits and a run to earn the win. He walked one and struck out seven. Connor DiNaro pitched the final four innings, giving up five hits and a run for an extended save.
Bailey Link started and went three innings for Bellevue, allowing four hits and five runs as he took the loss.
Wohl was 3-for-4 with a run and six RBIs to lead Mayville’s offensive outburst. Nine different Comets had hits in the game. Marcus Hughes, Skylar Forst and Sammy Satrom had three hits each.
Bellevue finished with 10 hits in the game, including two each by Cody Banks, Josh Vaughan and Riley Baasch.
Both Bellevue and Mayville State will represent the North Star Athletic Association in next week’s NAIA Opening Round.
*Courtesy North Star Athletic Association
