MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran baseball team had a solid showing in its home opener on Tuesday with a convincing 10-0 win over Martin Luther College. With the win the Vikings improve to 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the conference while the Knights fall to 3-6 overall and 0-1 in the UMAC. 

Bethany got the scoring started in the first when Brad Bickmann ripped a single through the left side to bring home Liam Peterson. Henry Laue followed that at-bat with a sac fly to plate Matt Verdugo before Ben Hopper got a base hit up the middle to bring Vaughn Pouncy across and make it 3-0 after one inning of play. After Peterson drew a walk in the second inning, Aidan Russell would gap a triple to left center to score him and put the Vikings up 4-0. 

Russell would then bring the next run across in the fourth inning when he singled in a run with Matt Verdugo following him up with an RBI in the next AB. In the fifth inning and with the Vikings leading 6-0, Eli Fest would rope a base hit up the middle to score Hopper, before Peterson connected for the Vikings first home run of the season to give Bethany a 9-0 lead. 

In the seventh, the Vikings would plate their final run of the game after a few wild pitches to achieve the 10-run rule.

Peterson led the Bethany hitters in the contest, going 3-of-3 with four runs scored. Hopper also posted three hits in the game, while Fest and Russell each added two. 

On the mound, the Vikings deployed six different arms with Jadrien Keavy getting the win going the first two innings. Connor Merton and Gavin Jacobsen each struck out the side in their inning of relief with all pitchers that threw in the contest tallying at least one strikeout.