The Royals welcome back nine starters on offense and three key pitchers. Junior Matthew Carlsen (.429, 8 HR, 57 RBI, 9 SB) set single-season program records in runs, hits, and RBIs while senior Justin Winterfeldt (.366, 12 HR, 56 RBI) had a single-season record 20 doubles, thank ranked 17th nationally and 119 total bases.
On the mound, BU returns sophomore Max Sutter (7-3, 68Ks) who posted a 2.50 ERA tossed the fifth most complete games in the nation last year with six. He also ranked 13th nationally with a 0.98 walks allowed per nine innings mark. Fifth-year Marcus Krupke (4.45 ERA) also posted a 7-3 record on the mound ranking second all-time with 20 wins. Krupke was fourth nationally with 0.59 walks allowed per nine innings, giving up a minimal four walks in 60.2 innings of work. Fifth-year Ty Koehn rounds out the starters posting a 5-0 record in nine starts. He tossed 47.2 innings of work where he struck out 57 and had an ERA of 2.64.
As a team, Bethel finished in the top 20 nationally with a .336 batting average that included 105 doubles. The Royals team ERA of 3.65 and fielding percentage of .972 ranked 14th nationally. The pitching staff ranked 12th nationally with a 3.22 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 11th with a 1.24 WHIP and third with 2.19 walks allowed per nine innings.
