Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - In a must win series, the Royals kept their playoff hopes alive as they swept the visiting St. Mary's Cardinals. The first games was controlled by Bethel from the beginning and ended in a 10-3 win while the second game was much more eventful with four different lead changes, three of which came in the last three innings. The Bethel offensive came to play both games breaking a one game outburst trend.

Mike Gaustad broke a scoreless tie in the second inning of game one after a single by Tim Oesterlin and a double by Kris Pulford. Ted Erickson would make it 2-0 driving Oesterlin home with a sacrifice fly. They would strike again in the third after a leadoff triple by Brandon Carr and a Tyler Kramer single. Kirby Carr would go on to hit a two run homerun (6) that would make the score 5-0. The Cardinals would respond in the top of the fourth with two runs of their own. Brady Knudsen would score on a Royal error and Kevin Black crossed home on a single. Bethel would add three more runs in the sixth to secure the win on a T. Kramer three run homerun (1) and make the final 10-3.

Adams would spread seven hits over seven innings and allowed only three runs while striking out eight to earn the win and bump his record to 3-3. Cardinal pitcher Matt Popek would go four innings giving up 7 runs before getting relieved, he would take the loss and is now 1-2.

Top performers in the game included Tyler Kramer who finished 3-4 with 5 RBI's and Oesterlin and Pulford who both went 2-2. Jared Bangs also ended game one going 2-3.

The second game started off slow for the Royals and it would seem that it was the same old story of two different Bethel teams showing up in the double header. They would fall behind in the first, but climbed back in the second to make the score 1-1 with a Garret Kramer RBI. The Royals would then find themselves down 6-1 in the third after the Cardinals got five runs thanks in part to a grand slam from Pete Bissen. In the bottom half the Royals would get one back as Kirby Carr hit his seventh home run of the year and his sixth home run in the past four conference series', a moon shot that made it to the Hargis Park train tracks in left field. St. Mary's would continue to pour on the offense, however, as they scored four more in the fourth knocking out Bethel starting pitcher Matt Pokorn, and leaving the team with a 10-2 deficit. The Royals resiliency shined through, however as they would respond with a five spot of their own in the third. They would bat around the order as Tyler Kramer and Gaustad would each get two RBI's and Oesterlin would get the 5th making the score 10-7 in favor of the Cardinals.

In the bottom half of the fifth, the Royals broke out for six more runs as Tyler Kramer would double in two runs. With first base open, the Cardinals chose to intentionally walk Kirby Carr bringing up Dana Hegman with two on. Hegman would make them pay as he proceeded to hit a three run homerun his second of the season giving the team their first lead of game two. Pulford would then double in Oesterlin to push the Royals lead to 13-10.

Things got more interesting in the seventh inning when St. Mary's would tag two off Royal reliever Kyle McCracken who had pitched two previous innings of shutout ball. Gaustad would come in from second to try and close out the game inheriting runners on first and second with no outs, up 13-12. The Cardinals would score two more on a throwing error before the inning was over retaking the lead 14-13.

Heading into the bottom of the seventh the Royals wasted little time tying up the game. With one out, Hegman came to bat and with one swing he hit his second home run (3) of the evening this time tying the game 14-14. Gaustad would walk to put the winning run on and the next batter Oesterlin drove him in with a double to win the game. Gaustad would get the win going to 1-1 and for the Cardinals Mike Mitchell would record the loss making him 2-6.