MANKATO, Minn.—The Bethany Lutheran baseball team (10-12 overall, 6-5 UMAC) split Saturday's doubleheader with Northwestern (13-8, 8-3), taking the opener 6-4 and dropping the second 15-1 in seven innings.
Senior Adam Fjerstad (Hayfield, Minn.) started the doubleheader and tossed a complete game. He struck out a career-high nine batters and earned the win to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Northwestern's Keegan Vercoe hit a three-run homer in the third inning for the game's first runs, but the Vikings responded by manufacturing a run in the bottom half of the frame to cut the Eagles' lead to 3-1.
BLC continued its rally in the fourth inning as it led off with four straight hits, and junior Vaughn Pouncy (St. Paul, Minn.) capped off the four-run inning with a two-out, RBI single to right to make it 5-3.
Junior Ben Hopper (North Mankato, Minn.) hit a leadoff double in the sixth inning, and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from freshman Malachi Santiago (Gilbert, Ariz.).
Fjerstad ran into trouble in the eighth frame after allowing two walks and a hit-by-pitch, but he got out of the bases-loaded jam with only one run allowed as Bethany closed the door on game one.
Hopper and Pouncy led the Vikings with two hits and an RBI apiece in the opener.
UNW jumped on Bethany early in game two, as it plated five in the first inning and tacked on another in the second to make it 6-0. Vercoe continued to be a thorn in BLC's side, as he homered in his first two plate appearances and reached base four times overall in the contest.
The Eagles put up an additional five runs in the fourth inning to take a double digit, 11-0 lead.
Senior Jake LaBerge (Round Rock, Tex.) laced an RBI triple to center in the fifth frame for the Vikings only run of the game.
Freshman Carter Benz (Wabasso, Minn.) worked two scoreless innings in relief to keep the score at 11-1 heading into the seventh.
Santiago and junior Liam Peterson (Port Orchard, Wash.) each collected two hits in the loss.
Bethany continues its homestand with a three-game series against Northland College, beginning next Friday at 3 p.m.
