Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The Royals hosted the cross-town Northwestern Eagles for a two game series at Hargis Park on Tuesday but came away with two losses. Bethel managed to fight back from behind in both games and make each game interesting, but in the end the Eagles scored enough to hold on.

Game one started off well for the Royals scoring in the first from a Mike Gaustad sacrifice fly, bringing in Tyler Kramer. They would strike again in the third on a leadoff homerun by Kirby Carr, pushing his total to a MIAC leading 10 and a homerun in his sixth straight game.

In the top of the fifth Northwestern would scratch a five spot on the board after four walks and two hits. Peter Cameron would single in a run for an RBI and Lee Nelson drove in two on a single of his own.

The Royals would respond right away in the bottom half. K. Carr was hit by a pitch and then advanced to third on a single by Dana Hegman. Gaustad would get his second RBI of the game on a fielder's choice and would advance to third after a single by Tim Oesterlin. Kris Pulford came up next and hit a ball deep enough to left to score Gaustad from third to make it a 4-5 ballgame. Down one in the bottom of the seventh, the Royals sparked a rally to tie the game and go into extra innings. Ted Erickson singled in Gaustad from second to make the score 5-5.

In the eighth inning the Eagles came up with three runs on four hits off Bethel reliever John Buteyn. Andy Evensen and Spenser Labatt each had singles and Jason Fremont doubled to bring in two. Bethel could not answer in the bottom half and would lose the first game 8-5.

Starting for the Royals was Chris Nordell, who gave up four runs on one hit. He pitched shutout ball until the fifth when he ran into some control problems and was relieved by Kyle McCraken. He would give up one run on three hits in his two innings of work before Buteyn pitched the eighth. Northwestern's Josh Peterson would throw five innings giving up four runs on eight hits. Sam Overlien would get the win while throwing the last two innings. He moves to 5-2 on the year while Buteyn drops to 5-4.

In game two, the Eagles would jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Cameron and Fremont would each pick up RBI's for Northwestern. In the bottom half of the third the Royals would come back with two runs of their own to tie the score. T. Kramer would single in Jared Bangs and K. Carr would drive home Brandon Carr.

Northwestern would answer with four of their own to make the score 6-2 Eagles. They would have five hits in the inning with Dan Halstensgard picking up two RBI's on a single. Bethel would continue to chip away at the score for the next three innings crossing the plate once in each inning and making the score 6-5 in favor of Eagles. They would score one more insurance run in the seventh, but would not need it as the Royals couldn't get anything going in the final inning.

Pitching for the Royals was Charlie Zak, going four innings giving up six runs on seven hits while striking out five. Ben Turnwall would come in for three innings of relief and allowed only one run on one hit striking out three. Eagle pitcher Zach Holsman went five innings giving up four runs on six hits. Jeff Amann pitched two innings of three hit ball allowing one run. Zak drops to 2-3 as Holsman picks up his first decision of the season.

Gaustad and B. Carr would go 3-7, and 4-9 respectively at the plate on the day to lead the Royals. T. Kramer, Gaustad and K. Carr would each pick up two RBI's on the day.

Next for the Royals is a double header at Hargis Park against St. John's , Wednesday, May 2 at 2:30.