Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The brooms are back for the Bethel University baseball team, as the Royals (13-10, 3-3 MIAC) handed St. Olaf College a pair of losses Sunday afternoon. BU topped the Oles (7-11, 1-3 MIAC) 11-5 in game one before taking advantage of a walk-off wild pitch to defeat St. Olaf 3-2 in game two.
 
The Oles put up three runs in the top half of the first inning of game one, but managed to score just four runs in the final 15 innings of the day. The Royals rebounded with a pair in the bottom of the first, two in the third, four in the fourth, and three in the fifth.
 
Houston Droel improved to 2-1 on the season, as the righty allowed five runs on five hits and three walks in 6.0 innings pitched. He also struck out seven in his second-longest outing of the season.
 
Bret Neuville finished game one 1-for-4, but his one hit helped him lead the team in RBI's (4) throughout the game. The first baseman crushed a three-run home run to left in the fourth inning, which put Bethel up 7-3. He also hit an RBI-groundout in the fifth.
 
Sam Horner went 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs batted in and perhaps even more impressive, zero runners left on base. Horner's three singles all drove in a run.
 
Jarad Watts, Matt Conrad, Ryan Evenson, and Esteban Velasco each tallied multi-hit games in Sunday's opener. Among the quartet, they scored six times and drove in two. Bethel finished the first game with 16 hits in total, as every starter was credited with at least one hit throughout the seven-inning matinee.
 
The second contest had a much different feel than the first. Bethel took a 1-0 lead after the third and 2-0 after the fifth, but St. Olaf evened things up with a two-run double in the seventh before the Royals walked off with a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth.
 
A leadoff walk by Brandon Meyer in the ninth, followed by a sacrifice bunt and a groundout got pinch-runner Brady Soderstrom to third before Nate Gelle—who had pitched all nine innings for the Ole's—sent one to the backstop, which allowed Soderstrom to slide into home and the Royals to even their conference record at 3-3.
 
BU had 10 hits in game two, compared to St. Olaf's three. Ryan Evenson continued his recent terror, as he finished 3-for-4 at the plate with one run scored. The junior from Minnehaha Academy is 8-for-13 with five doubles in his last four games. Also posting a multi-hit performance was Bret Neuville, who finished 2-for-2 with an RBI single in the third inning.
 
Andrew Heuss got his first career hit for the Royals and drove in his first RBI with a single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth inning.
 
Noah Luedtke gave the Royals a masterful presentation on the pitching mound, as he allowed no earned runs in 6.2 innings pitched. The 6-4, sophomore allowed three hits and three walks, while striking out four, but did not get the decision, however. Grant Martinson came in and got a critical strikeout in the seventh, before Michael Bohlke came in for the two-inning win. Bolke struck out two, walked none, and surrendered zero hits in the relief appearance.
 
Now 13-10 on the season and 3-3 in the MIAC, Bethel will look to take its momentum from a three-game winning streak up against St. Thomas Tuesday afternoon in Arden Hills. The conference twin bill is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Hargis Park.