ROSEVILLE, Minn.—The Bethany Lutheran baseball team (19-14 overall) fell 9-6 to Crown (27-12) Thursday to open the UMAC Tournament.
 
The Vikings are the No. 3 seed and were the visitors for this contest. Junior Matt Verdugo (Arvada, Colo.) gave BLC the early 1-0 lead with his single to left centerfield that drove in senior Ross Beumer (Northfield, Minn.) from second.
 
The Polars used a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame to regain the lead, and added one in the third to make it 3-1.
 
Beumer scored for the second time in the fourth and freshman Malachi Santiago (Gilbert, Ariz.) tied it with his single to left to plate Verdugo.
 
Another two-run homer from Crown in the fourth scored the go-ahead run and tallied three in the fifth.
 
Bethany scored its final runs as junior Hunter Pearce (Berthoud, Colo.) scored in the fifth and a two-run homer by freshman Aidan Russell (Gilbert, Ariz.).
 
Santiago went 3-4.
 
The Vikings had five stolen bases and six strikeouts on the game to set new season records in those categories. The previous mark for strikeouts was 281 set just last season.
 
BLC returns to the field tomorrow at 1 p.m. against the loser of UW-Superior/Northwestern.

Tournament Schedule
Thursday, May 12
Game 1: 4 p.m. – No. 2 Crown vs. No. 3 Bethany Lutheran
Game 2: 7 p.m. – No. 1 Northwestern vs. No. 4 Wisconsin-Superior

Friday, May 13 
Game 3: 1 p.m. – Bethany Lutheran vs. Northwestern
Game 4: 4 p.m. – Crown vs. UW-Superior
Game 5: 7 p.m. – Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4

Saturday, May 14
Game 6: 1 p.m. – Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
Game 7: 4 p.m. – If Necessary, Same Teams as Game 6