COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The fifth-seeded Bethel University baseball team saw its 2021 season come to an end Friday afternoon dropping a close elimination game to second-seeded Gustavus Adolphus, 9-8.

A game that saw a combined 26 hits came down to a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth, bringing in the winning run for the Gusties.

It was a tradeoff of leads all day with the Gusties jumping on starter Marcus Krupke early with a three spot in their first plate appearance. The Royals showed no panic with two-out production from Keenan Hodgkin who drove in a pair with a double down the left field line in the second.

Bethel evened it up at 3-3 in the third scoring its leadoff walk in Matthew Carlsen on a 6-4-3 groundout off the bat of Joey Fredrickson. Another three spot for GAC in the fourth put them back on top 6-3.

This time it was Justin Winterfeldt answering the call. With the bases loaded and two outs, Winterfeldt sent a towering shot over the left center fence giving the advantage back to BU, 7-6.

More two-out production, this time by Fredrickson, gave the Royals another run in the sixth before the Gusties evened it at 8-8 in the bottom half of the inning.

GAC loaded the bases before drawing a walk on a 3-1 pitch giving them the final lead of the ballgame.

Bethel finished the 2021 season 24-17 overall and were winners of seven of its last 10 games.