Article

Southern road trip resolves some unanswered questions for Maverick teams

By Jim Rueda
Free Press

So the question today is: What have we learned?

The Minnesota State University baseball and softball teams recently returned from their annual southern trips and found answers to some of the question marks that surrounded their programs before they left.

The MSU baseball squad went 4-2 in Texas, improving its overall record to 8-5. Head coach Dean Bowyer said the team's four-man starting rotation is just about solidified.

Sophomore right-hander Ben King and junior left-hander Matt McMurtry appear to be the top two starters. King went 1-0 in Texas with 1.29 ERA while McMurtry was 0-1 with a 1.42 ERA.

Senior right-hander Andy Kreidermacher has apparently nailed down the No. 3 spot. He pitched six innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight without giving up a run.

The fourth spot is still being contested by sophomore righty Mark Dolenc and senior righty Matt McDonald. Dolenc had a 2.16 ERA on the Texas trip. McDonald did not pitch in Texas.

Sophomore Pat Ottum was on his way to winning the starting catching job in Texas when he slit open his leg while sliding into home and had to have 12 stitches. Sophomore Ben Barrone and senior Jim Bombach will share the catching spot at least until Ottum gets healthy.

"Pat has always been a great defensive catcher for us," Bowyer said. "And he was playing well defensively in Texas again, too. He threw out three potential base stealers and was starting to hit the ball well, too. It was just a fluke injury he suffered sliding home."

Junior Ryan Greene has won the starting shortstop job, mostly with his glove. Bowyer said sophomore New Ulm native Eric Austvold was the team's best hitter in Texas and will continue to man the center field spot he earned midway through last season.

"The biggest thing we learned in Texas is we have to hit the ball better as a team," Bowyer said. "We have great pitching and good defense but we need to produce more runs."

For head coach Lori Meyer's softball team, freshman Kim Howell has emerged as the team's No. 2 pitcher behind ace Janet Barker. In 51 2/3 innings, Howell has struck out 33 and walked 18. She compiled a 1.37 ERA at the Rebel Spring Games in Florida.

The junior Barker is 6-3 with a 2.86 ERA and No. 3 pitcher Megan Burke is a freshman with a 1-1 record and a 3.20 ERA.

The Mavericks have also been looking for a solid No. 5 hitter in the lineup since Natalie Schultz got hurt last year. Meyer believes Howell may be the answer.

"If you look at Kim's batting average in Florida it's not that impressive, but she hit the ball hard almost every time up," Meyer said. "Mandy Geis and Kari Hudson are our top hitters but we need some newcomers to step up and it looks like Howell will be one of them."

The junior Geis is hitting .459 with a team-leading 19 RBIs and a .703 slugging percentage. Sophomore Hudson is batting .371 with 17 RBI and a .529 slugging percentage.

Although the Mavericks went just 4-6 in Florida, Meyer viewed the trip as a success. "We improved defensively, our pitchers improved and we even improved our batting average," she said.

"The thing we need to work on now is producing with runners on base. We're getting a lot of hits but we're not getting timely hits when we need them the most. We lost three 1-run games in Florida so we could have easily been 7-3."

Jim Rueda is the Free Press sports editor. To contact him, call 344-6381 or e-mail him at
jrueda@mankatofreepress.com.