Moorhead, Minn. - In the regular-season finale, the Bethel University baseball team lost both doubleheader games Monday afternoon to Concordia College (8-4, 6-5). The losses leave the Royals with a final regular season record of 26-10 (14-6). The Royals will receive the 3 or 4 seed in the MIAC playoffs, which will be determined Tuesday evening.
Matthew Carlsen had an impressive performance to close out his regular season, with four hits and three RBIs on the day.
Both Bethel starting pitchers in
Ty Koehn and
Ryan Parker had rough outings with Koehn giving up four runs through 3.1 innings with four strikeouts and Parker giving up four runs through 3.1 innings with five strikeouts.
Game 1 | Bethel 4, Concordia 8
Game number one started out on a positive note, with the Royals jumping out to a lead when
Matthew Carlsen crushed a solo homer to right in the top of the third inning to put the Royals up 1-0.
The Cobbers tied the game up in the bottom of the third but the Royals answered back in the top of the fourth inning, scoring three runs off of a
Nolan Jurgenson RBI single up the middle, a Marcus RBI single to right, and a
Matthew Carlsen RBI single down the right field line to put the Royals up 4-1.
The Royal's lead did not last long, as Concordia jumped on the pitching duo of
Ty Koehn and
Aidan Nelson to score seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to go up 8-4 on the Royals.
Bethel's offense stayed quiet for the rest of the game and
Aidan Nelson took the loss on the day, dropping his season record to 3-2 and dropping the game for Bethel at 8-4.
Game 2 | Bethel 5, Concordia 6
Bethel fell into an early hole in game number two when Concordia scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but the Royals responded in the top of the second, scoring three runs after a
Noah Wenberg RBI double to left-center field, a
Matthew Carlsen RBI single to center, and a
Tommy Friesen RBI single to left to put the Royals up 3-2.
The Cobbers responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, but the Royals responded again, scoring a run in the top of the fifth from a
Justin Winterfeldt solo homer to center and another run in the top of the sixth from a
Noah Wenberg RBI double down the left field line to put the Royals up 5-4.
The Royals saw their narrow lead dissolve when Concordia scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to put the Royals down 6-5 heading into the eighth.
Bethel failed to tie the game in the last two innings and lost 6-5 with the pitching duo of
Ryan Parker and
Jordan Krupke giving up six runs through 6.2 total innings.
Up Next:
The Royals will travel to Collegeville to compete in the MIAC playoffs on May 11th and will compete as either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed depending on the result of the Concorida-St. Olaf matchup tomorrow. The Royals will play at either 2:30 or 7:00 P.M. against Gustavus or St. John's in the opening round of the MIAC playoffs.
