Arden Hills, Minn. - The Bethel University Baseball team scored a total of 29 runs on a rainy Saturday afternoon to earn two wins (19-5, 10-3) over Hamline University. The wins move the Royals to 14-4 (6-0) on the season.
Marcus Krupke and
Justin Winterfeldt had impressive days at the plate, each picking up five hits in the doubleheader.
Noah Wenberg picked up his first two home runs on his season, including a pivotal grand slam in game number one. Both starting pitchers
Ryan Parker and
Ty Koehn picked up wins on the bump for the Royals on the day, with Parker throwing five innings of scoreless baseball and Koehn throwing four innings and giving up two runs.
Game 1 | Bethel 19, Hamline 5
Bethel faced adversity early in the opening game in the top of the third inning when Hamline's left fielder crushed a solo homer to left and then Hamline scored again after a ringing RBI double to center flew over the head of Matthew Carlsen and put the Pipers up 2-0
Bethel responded immediately in the bottom of the third when Nolan Jurgenson drove in two runs with a solidly stroked single to right-center field to tie the game at 2-2.
Bethel took control of the game and put together an impressive four-run rally in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring runs from four RBI singles, coming from a Tommy Friesen single to left, a Justin Winterfeldt single through the left side, a Nick Kulseth single to left and a
Nolan Jurgenson single to right to put the Royals up 6-2.
The Royals absolutely broke this game open in the bottom of the fifth inning when
Marcus Krupke scored a run on a wild pitch,
Keenan Hodgkin walked with the bases loaded,
Nick Kulseth picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice to short and
Noah Wenberg hit a high flying grand slam to left field to put the Royals up 13-2.
Bethel did not stop victimizing Hamline pitching, scoring six more runs in the bottom of the sixth from a three-run homer by
Justin Winterfeldt, a
Jordan Krupke RBI single to right, and picked up two more runs on a throwing error by the Hamline shortstop to put the Royals up 19-2.
Hamline scored three runs in the top of the seventh, but went out without a large enough fight and the Royals walked away with the 19-5 win.
Ty Koehn picked up his second win on the season on the mound, giving up two runs through four innings pitched with six strikeouts.
Game 2 | Bethel 10, Hamline 3
Bethel jumped on the Pipers early in the second game in the bottom of the second inning, scoring five runs after a Marcus Krupke RBI double to left, a Tommy Friesen sacrifice fly, a Justin Winterfeldt RBI double down the right field line, and a Ty Koehn two-run opposite field slashing home run to left to give the Royals an early 5-0 lead.
The offense did not stop for the Royals in the bottom of the third with three runs after a Noah Wenberg solo homer to left and a two-RBI bloop single down the right field line from Justin Winterfeldt to put the Royals up 8-0.
Piper pitching was further victimized in the bottom of the fourth inning with Bethel scoring two more runs off of a Keenan Hodgkin solo homer to left-center field and a Marcus Krupke RBI single through the left side of the infield to put the Royals up 10-0.
Hamline would score three runs in the top of the seventh inning, but that's where their offense would halt, giving the Royals the 10-3 victory.
Ryan Parker picked up the win on the mound, throwing five scoreless innings against the Pipers with two strikeouts.
Up Next:
The Royals remain at home and will welcome St. Olaf for a doubleheader matchup on Tuesday, April 18th with game times slated for 2:30 and 5 P.M. at Hargis Park.
