ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The Bethel University baseball team came away with a split of a crucial MIAC doubleheader with the University of St. Thomas, winning the second game 7-1 to hand UST their first loss in conference play. Bethel (13-7, 7-3) got strong pitching all day while James Woelfel provided the big lick in game two with a three-run homerun to pull away from the Tommies (14-4, 9-1). 

Game 1
The opener was a scoreless pitchers duel through the first five innings as Bethel senior Peyton Gallagher put up zero after zero against the Tommies, with his counterpart, Duke Coborn of UST doing the same. Gallagher allowed just four hits through the first five innings while inducing a pair of double plays along with a pickoff at second base to erase a Tommie threat. In the top of the sixth after retiring the first two batters a pair of singles preceded a walk to load the bases, prompting the Royals to go to the bullpen. Blake Williams relived Gallagher and after a borderline two-strike pitch was called a ball the Tommies were able to clear the bases with a triple to the right center field gap. UST tacked on an unearned run in the top of the 7th before the Royals scored one in the bottom of the 7th on a Marcus Krupke single scoring James Woelfel. Woelfel led the way for the Bethel offense going 3-3 with the run scored. Caleb Brandt collected a pair of hits while Krupke's RBI single was the only other hit of the game for BU. Gallagher was charged with the tough luck loss with a final line of 5.2 innings pitched with six hits, two walks and three earned runs to go along with four strikeouts. Blake Williams, Nicholas Johnson and Zachary Haala got the final four outs of the game.

Game 2
The second game was different for the start for the Royals, gaining an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a pair of walks and an RBI fielders choice by Nick Wibben. The Royals tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the third on a wild pitch and a walk to chase UST starter Chris Chiriboga. Meanwhile Jordan Krupke was cruising on the mound for Bethel. The freshman's three pitch mix had the Tommies off balance, shutting them out through the first seven innings. In the bottom of the seventh the first two Royals were retired, the eighth and ninth consecutive outs for UST reliever Jack Blesch, before Ty Koehn legged out a chopper to second base. Nick Wibben followed with a solid single to right bringing up the hot bat of catcher James Woelfel. The junior from Bird Island, Minn. jumped on an 0-1 fastball and sent it on a line over the left field fence giving BU a 6-0 lead. The Tommies finally got to Krupke in the top of the 8th with a single, hit by pitch and walk ending his day. A bases loaded walk was followed by a strikeout and ground out induced by reliever Bryce DeLay to get the Royals out of the jam. Consecutive singles by Caleb Brandt and Tommy Friesen in the top of the ninth put runners on first and second for Ty Koehn who hit a solid groundball to the short stop who then fed to the second baseman looking for a double play. Koehn beat the throw however while Brandt rounded third base and took advantage of the UST first baseman not paying attention to him, racing home for an insurance run. Blake Williams came on in the drizzle and darkening skies for the bottom of the ninth, striking out the final Tommie to strand a pair of runners on base and seal the game for Bethel.
UST had not allowed more than three runs in any of their previous 17 games before the Royals put up their seven, all earned, on 11 hits and five walks. Krupke's masterful performance improved him to 3-0 on the season, allowing seven hits and just one run with one walk and three strikeouts in 7.1 innings. His previous long outing of the season was three innings on three different occasions. Tommy Friesen led the Royals with three hits while Ty Koehn and Keenan Hodgkin both had a pair of hits with Koehn and Caleb Brandt scoring a pair of runs each. After going 3-3 in the first game, Woelfel was 1-2 wtih a pair of walks and the three-run homerun.          

Bethel will have to quickly put the big win over the Tommies behind them as they welcome the Carleton College Knights to Hargis Park on Thursday afternoon for the completion of a halted game followed by a regularly scheduled single 9-inning MIAC contest. The Royals will enter the bottom of the ninth of the halted game from April 5th in Northfield with an 8-6 lead, needing three outs to secure a win. Immediately following the completion of that game the two teams will play the third and final game of their MIAC series. First pitch of the halted game will be at 2:30 p.m.