Sunday, February 4
Houston, Texas
10:00 A.M. CT
St. Cloud State
1-2
2
vs
7
Millersville
2-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
St. Cloud State
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
2
6
1
Millersville
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
X
7
9
0
VanBeck Strikes out 10 in Huskies’ Loss to No. 7 Millersville
2/4/2024 5:59:00 PM | Baseball
Huskies drop finale of Houston Winter Invitational
HOUSTON, Texas – St. Cloud State Baseball (1-1, 0-0 NSIC) lost its final game of the Houston Winter Invitational to No. 7 Millersville (2-1, 0-0 PSAC), 7-2, on Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The Huskies received a strong start from senior Payton VanBeck (Elrosa, Minn.) to keep the game close until the late stages, but a four-run eighth inning from Millersville broke the game open.
VanBeck was solid in his first start of the season for the Huskies, as he gave up two first inning runs before pitching 4.2 scoreless innings. He struck out 10 batters and only gave up three hits in 5.2 innings of work to keep the Huskies in the game.
Redshirt sophomore Brayden Jacobson's (West Fargo, N.D.) sacrifice fly in the sixth inning cut the score to 2-1, but the Marauders responded with a run in the seventh and four runs in the eighth to increase its lead to 7-1. Junior Sawyer Smith (Somers, Wis.) singled home senior Mitchell Gumbko (Ada, Mich.) in the ninth inning, but SCSU's comeback attempt came up short at 7-2.
TOP HUSKIES
St. Cloud State will next head to St. Joseph, Mo., to face Missouri Western in a three-game set Feb. 9-11. Each game of the series is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. CT.
For all the latest on St. Cloud State Baseball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
VanBeck was solid in his first start of the season for the Huskies, as he gave up two first inning runs before pitching 4.2 scoreless innings. He struck out 10 batters and only gave up three hits in 5.2 innings of work to keep the Huskies in the game.
Redshirt sophomore Brayden Jacobson's (West Fargo, N.D.) sacrifice fly in the sixth inning cut the score to 2-1, but the Marauders responded with a run in the seventh and four runs in the eighth to increase its lead to 7-1. Junior Sawyer Smith (Somers, Wis.) singled home senior Mitchell Gumbko (Ada, Mich.) in the ninth inning, but SCSU's comeback attempt came up short at 7-2.
TOP HUSKIES
- VanBeck – 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 10 K
- Senior Drew Beier (Foley, Minn.) – 2-3, R
- Smith – 1-4, RBI
- Gumbko – 1-4, 2B, R
- This was the first-ever meeting between SCSU and Millersville.
- Millersville entered the tournament ranked No. 7 in the NCBWA Preseason Poll.
- With the 1-2 showing at the Houston Winter Invitational, SCSU is now 7-2 all-time at the event after 3-0 showings in 2016 and 2019.
- VanBeck logged a career-best 10 strikeouts in the game, surpassing his previous best mark of five against Southwest Baptist on Feb. 4, 2023.
- Gumbko finished off an impressive performance on the weekend, hitting .417 (5-for-12) with a double, four runs scored, four stolen bases and two walks. After hitting in the nine-hole in Friday's season-opener, Gumbko moved up to the leadoff spot for the final two games.
- Jacobson closed the weekend as SCSU's leader in RBI, knocking in five runs while batting .250 (2-for-8) on the weekend.
- Senior Cooper Avery (Fort Myers, Fla.) made his SCSU debut in the game, logging two outs in the eighth inning without allowing any hits or runs.
St. Cloud State will next head to St. Joseph, Mo., to face Missouri Western in a three-game set Feb. 9-11. Each game of the series is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. CT.
For all the latest on St. Cloud State Baseball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Alex Mykut (1-0)
L: VanBeck, Payton (0-1)
S: Rece Ritchey (1)
Batting:
2B: Gumbko, Mitchell 1 ; Schiller, Tyler 1
RBI: Smith, Sawyer 1 ; Jacobson, Brayden 1
SF: Jacobson, Brayden 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gumbko, Mitchell 1 ; Beier, Drew 1
Batting:
HR: Matthew Williams 1 ; Jimmy Kirk 1
RBI: Matthew Williams 2 ; Jimmy Kirk 3 ; Caleb Sturtevant 1 ; Jeff Sabater 1
SH: Nick O'Connor 1
SF: Caleb Sturtevant 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cole Houser 1 ; Matthew Williams 1 ; Jonathan Mallow 1 ; Mark McNelly 1 ; Jimmy Kirk 1 ; Justin Taylor 2
SB: Jonathan Mallow 1 ; Mark McNelly 1 ; Justin Taylor 1
HBP: Cole Houser 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ BaseballRHP/IF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
IF/OF
/ BaseballIF/RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
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