Arden Hills, Minn. - The Bethel University baseball team finished up the home portion of their regular season with two wins over Crown College (21-4, 6-2) on Sunday afternoon and senior day at Hargis Park. The wins moved the Royals to 26-8 (14-4) on the season. 

At the plate, Marcus Krupke had a rather impressive day with three hits and seven RBI's, highlighted by two doubles in game number one. 

Game 1 | Bethel 21, Crown 4

The Royals faced adversity early in game number one when Crown College ambushed Bethel pitcher John Solfest and scored three runs in the top of the first inning to go up 3-0 on the Royals. 

Solfest found his groove and the Bethel offense answered back in the bottom of the second when Marcus Krupke drove in two runs with a ringing double over the head of the Polar's center fielder to cut the deficit to 3-2. 

Crown College scored a run in the top of the fourth but the Royals answered right back in the bottom of the fourth, exploding for five runs after a Taylor Brodersen RBI single to right center field, a Marcus Krupke RBI single to center, and a Jordan Krupke two-RBI single through the right side followed by a throwing error by Crown to allow the Royals to score another run and go up 7-4. 

Bethel's offense didn't slow down in the bottom of the fifth, scoring eleven runs when the Royals loaded the bases and capitalized on wild Polar pitching when both Taylor Brodersen and Marcus krupke got hit by a pitch, Matthew Carlsen, Jordan Krupke, and Caden Chistiansen drew bases loaded walks, Noah Wenberg and Keenan Hodgkin both picked up an RBI's on a fielder's choice,  Nolan Jurgeonson stroked an RBI single to center, Taylor Brodersen hit an RBI single to left, and Marcus Krupke smacked a two-run double to right center to put the Royals up 18-4. 

Bethel continued to pile on the offense in the bottom of the sixth when Brody Schneider hit an RBI double to left, Nick Kulseth hit an RBI single to left, and Taylor Brodersen hit an RBI single through the left side to put the Royals up 21-4. 

Wesley Brand came in to pitch the top of the seventh for the Royals and shut out the Polars to secure the 21-4 victory for Bethel. 

Game 2 | Bethel 6, Crown 2

The Royals got on the board first in game number two in the bottom of the second inning, scoring a run off of a Matt Friesen RBI single to right field to put the Royals up 1-0.

The Polars tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third but the Royals gained the lead back in the bottom of the third when Justin Winterfeldt crushed a solo homer to left to put the Royals up 2-1. 

Crown tied the game back up against at 2-2 in the top of the fourth but Bethel once again responded quickly in the bottom of the fourth when Matt Friesen hit an RBI single through the right side to put the Royals up 3-2. 

The Royal offesne added some insurance in the bottom of the sixth when Marcus Krupke hit a sacrifice fly to left, Matthew Carlsen smoked an RBI triple down the right field line, and Tommy Friesen hit a sacrifice fly to left to put the Royals up 6-2. 

Aidan Nelson and Zach Haala came in to pitch the top of the seventh for the Royals and shut out the Polars to secure the 6-2 win for Bethel.

Up Next: 

The Royals will hit the road to finish their regular season on May 8th with a doubleheader matchup against Concordia College with game times set for 1:30 and 4:00 P.M. in Moorhead. 
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