ST. PAUL—Bethel University's baseball team was riding high after defeating St. Thomas in the opening round of the 2018 MIAC Playoffs with a walk-off walk in the bottom of the 10th inning and BU used that late-night magic to fuel another come-from-behind win over Saint John's University Saturday afternoon at CHS Field.
 
The No. 2-seeded Royals (31-9) trailed the No. 1-seeded Johnnies (32-7) 1-0, but Bethel tallied the equalizer with a solo home run in the fourth and two go-ahead runs in the fifth. Those two runs were critical as SJU managed to get one back in the seventh, but BU held Saint John's scoreless in the final two frames and went on to win by a final score of 3-2.
 
Bethel will now advance to the MIAC Championship game at CHS Field on Sunday, May 13 at 11 a.m. The Royals will face Saint John's again since they beat St. Thomas in the elimination game Saturday night.
 
Noah Luedtke was sensational Saturday, allowing two runs—one earned—on four hits and two walks, while striking out four in 7.0 innings pitched. He then handed the ball to Jake Marsh, winner of last night's thriller, who surrendered zero runs in the final two frames. It was Marsh's ninth save of the season.
 
Bethel's hero at the plate was Austin Ledin. The senior from Brooklyn Park, Minn., finished 1-for-3 with a solo home run and the game-winning sacrifice fly. Sam Horner finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Joey Fredrickson, Mitch Butvilas, John Horner, Michael Wesner, and Jake Schubert each recorded a base hit.
 
The Royals, who reached the 30-win plateau for the third time in the last four years last night, improved to 30-0 this season when scoring three or more runs.