AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Davenport baseball team had a grueling day on Friday (Mar. 2) as they played two games for a total of 22 innings and in the end pulled off an upset of No. 7 Minnesota State-Mankato in the first game. The Panthers got some revenge after letting the game slip through their fingers yesterday against the Mavericks. In the second game, they found themselves down by five runs after six innings against Malone and battled back to force extra innings. The outcome was not favorable however in a 9-8 loss to the Pioneers.

MINNESOTA STATE-MANKATO
HOW IT HAPPENED
The rematch between Davenport and MSU-Mankato lived up to the first meeting yesterday and this time the Panthers came out on top. The Panthers scored once in the second inning off starter Nick Belzer. Brent Showers had a RBI single off the glove of the outstretched shortstop scoring Brian Sobieski with two outs. The Mavericks put up five runs in the third inning and did so against DU ace Grant Wolfram. Tyler Berg had a two-RBI double to left center and the third run was scored courtesy of a throwing error. Jordan Hart later had a two-RBI single to right center and that ended the day for Wolfram. He allowed five runs and walked four to go with three strikeouts.
Davenport struck back with a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth to tie the game at 5-5. Showers and Alex Huard singled in the fifth and Austin Petravicius drove home Showers with an RBI single. Huard was thrown out at home on the play to keep the score even. MSU-Mankato quickly regained the lead in their half of the sixth with two runs. Luke Waldek doubled and Tommy McDonald was hit by a pitch against DU reliever Evan Maize. Josh Wenzel then hit a two-RBI single through the left side for the 7-5 lead.
DU put up three runs in the seventh inning to lead 8-7. Nolan Bryant led off with a double to center followed by a Petravicius single moving Bryant to third. Zac Wilson then hit a three-run homer to right center. The Mavericks tied it up in the bottom of the seventh as Noah Bluth had a RBI single off James Rogers. Sobieski gunned down the go-ahead run at the plate to end the inning.
In the top of the ninth, it was Wilson owning the spotlight as he launched a two-run homer to right center scoring Petravicius, who walked to start the inning. In the bottom half of the ninth, Rogers gave up a two-out walk but got a grounder to first to end the game.

INSIDE THE BOX
Rogers (WP, 1-0) 3 IP, 3 H, BB, 2 K
Maize (ND) 4 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, 3 K
Petravicius 2-for-4, 2 R, RBI, BB
Wilson 3-for-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, SB, 3 R
Sobieski 2-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R
Showers 2-for-3, R, 2 RBI

MALONE
HOW IT HAPPENED
The late-inning heroics continued in this game for the Panthers. They once again trailed by a score of 6-3 after Malone scored five runs in the top of the fifth. The Pioneers then added two runs in the sixth to lead 8-3. It looked like the ebb and flow of the previous two games against MSU-Mankato was starting to take a toll on the Panthers. However, the spark was ignited in the bottom of the seventh. Austin Lansky singled up the middle and later scored on a Petravicius double to left.
Trevor Russo, the fourth pitcher of the game for DU, was the most effective and kept the team in the game. He worked a clean eighth and then Davenport chipped away further with two runs to trail 8-6. Huard had a sacrifice fly off pitcher Jordan Yoder who came in with the bases loaded. Petravicius singled home a run and the bases were still loaded when Wilson hit a liner to shortstop to end the inning.
Russo worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning and then DiPonio played hero against Christian Specht. Sobieski walked on five pitches and then DiPonio took Specht deep to left center to tie the game 8-8. Lansky reached on an error with two outs and Huard doubled into the left field corner, but Lansky was thrown out at home to send the game in extras.
Davenport had more chances in extras as they left six men on base in the 10th through 13th innings. Sobieski struck out with Petravicius on third to end the 10th. Bryant grounded into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded in the 11th. Oscar Heredia struck out with runners at second and third in the 12th. Russo left a pitch over the plate to start the 13th inning and leadoff hitter Nate Cobb turned on it and homered down the right field line for the winning run. Russo then struck out the next three hitters. DU could not muster another comeback as winning pitcher James Kontur, the sixth hurler of the day for Malone, got a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to right which ended the game that took 4 hours and 40 minutes to play.

INSIDE THE BOX
Russo (LP, 0-1) 5.2 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, 8 K (Career-High)
Andrew Click (ND) 4 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Huard 3-for-7, 3 RBI, HR, 2B
Petravicius 5-for-7 (ties school record for hits), 2 RBI, 2 2B, SB
Wilson 2-for-5, 2 BB, SB
Lansky 2-for-4, 2 R, 3 BB
DU had a season-high 18 hits
468 pitches were thrown in the game (277 strikes)

UP NEXT
The Panthers (6-4) will need to rest and regroup quickly as they will play West Virginia Wesleyan (0-0) tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. from Chain O' Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven, Fla.