BOX SCORES: GAME ONE | GAME TWO
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – After falling twice to conference foe Macalester College last Tuesday, the Bethel University baseball team was eager to get back on the saddle Saturday when facing the Johnnies of Saint John's University in a double-header matinee. Even though the Royals led late in the first extra-inning contest, unfortunately BU was defeated 4-3 in game one's nine-inning affair, however, the Bethel squad took care of business in game two and defeated SJU 4-1.
The two opponents matched one another in runs scored throughout the first eight innings, as neither team scored, except in the third inning. Bethel started the party in the top half of the inning when they loaded the bases with no outs. A sac fly RBI by
Jay Slick (Sr., River Falls, Wis.) and an error later in the frame awarded the Royals with two runs, yet Saint John's was able to muster a pair of their own in the bottom half to even the score at two. BU again scored the go ahead run in the top half of the inning on a Slick single, but errors again plagued the Royals as they allowed two runs to score after recording two outs early, resulting in the 4-3 defeat in nine innings.
Bethel's team managed just six hits and five walks in Saturday's opener. Slick led the pack with the only runs batted in throughout the MIAC matchup, however,
David Freed (Jr., North Oaks, Minn.) finished 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs and
Matt Rowley (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) went 1-for-3 with two walks.
Freed toed the pitching rubber in the start of game one, allowing two earned runs and six hits throughout 5.1 innings of work. The junior hurler struck out two and walked zero.
Buddy Flaherty (Sr., Victoria, Minn.) finished the final 3.1 innings, and gave up just two hits, three walks, and two unearned runs. Flaherty struck out two in the process.
Head Coach
Brian Raabe and his squad didn't pounce immediately in the second game, in response to the finish in the first. In fact, neither team scored in the first four innings, thanks in part to starting pitcher
Matt Rowley, who pitched a complete game. Rowley finished the day allowing just one run and six hits, but struck out three and walked one.
The Royals helped Rowley out with a three-run fifth that put the baseball club ahead to stay. BU composed a two-out rally in the inning that was initiated by a
Jay Slick RBI single and capped by
Mike Sedjo (Sr., West Chicago, Ill.), who plated two more runs with a shot to right-center. Bethel added an insurance run in the seventh inning when
Travis Piepho (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.) walked and Rowley hit a double that was followed by a passed ball by the catcher. With the 4-1 win,
Matt Rowley improves to 5-3 on the season.
In game two, BU recorded nine hits and two walks in 29 plate appearances. Rowley controlled both the mound and the plate, as the junior out of Minnetonka, Minn. went 3-for-4 with a run scored. Slick and Sedjo were able to slam the only run scoring hits in back-to-back at-bats in game two.
With the split, Bethel rests at 15-10 overall and 6-4 in conference play. The Royals will battle to nonconference opponents this week, taking on Northwestern College (Minn.) Tuesday at Hargis Park and the University of Wisconsin-Stout Wednesday in Menomonie, Wis. BU will then play host to Augsburg College next Saturday in a MIAC showdown.
