TUCSON, Ariz. – The Bethany Lutheran baseball team Thursday came up with a pair of big wins over Gustavus Adolphus College and Allegheny College. The Vikings, now 3-4, defeated Gustavus 11-6 before taking down Allegheny 7-5.
Bethany Lutheran 11 – 6 Gustavus
The Vikings got things rolling in the bottom of the first inning, as Matthew Verdugo starting things off with a base hit before Aidan Russell began his big day with a triple to left center field to open the scoring. Liam Peterson would then single to score Russell and was following by a Brad Bickmann double to put two runners in scoring position. Henry Laue would come up with a big base knock into center field to put Bethany up 4-0 after one inning.
Gustavus would answer with three runs in the top of the second, before the scoring would halt until the bottom of the fourth. Verdugo would start the fourth inning with a triple, before Peterson would rip another base hit to put the Vikings up 5-3. The Gusties would answer with a run in the top of the sixth to trim the deficit to one, but Bethany would open the game up in the bottom of the seventh.
Izaak Stevens and Vaughn Pouncy would each record singles to get runners on base, before Verdugo and Russell each recorded RBI singles. Peterson would then get hit by a pitch before Ben Hopper came to the plate with the bases loaded and laced a shot down the right field line to clear the bases with a triple and give Bethany a 10-4 lead.
The Gusties would answer with a 2-run home run in the top of the eighth, which prompted a call to the bullpen that brought on RJ Brothen. With one runner on, Brothen would strike out the remaining two Gusties to get the Vikings out of the jam. Bethany would get one more run in the bottom of the eighth as Austin Fest would double to left center and eventually score on a wild pitch to put the Vikings up five headed to the ninth. Brothen would then put the Gusties down 1-2-3 in the ninth with two strikeouts to secure the win.
The Vikings had a huge day at the plate in this one, posting 18 hits in the contest to 11 from Gustavus. Verdugo and Russell led the charge with three hits apiece, while four other Vikings added at least two.
Conner Side recorded the win in relief for Bethany, allowing no earned runs in three innings of work while striking out three.
Bethany 7 – 5 Allegheny
The Vikings would open the scoring in the nightcap with a run in both the second and third innings, as Peterson scored on a passed ball in the second inning, before Pouncy would score before a Gator error in the third.
Allegheny would use a 2-RBI single in the 3rd inning and that 2-2 score would hold until the fifth. In the top of the fifth inning, the Vikings would catch a big break, as the Gators would make an error with the bases loaded to allow a run to score and keep the bases loaded. Brent Fowler than took advantage of the extra opportunity, clearing the bases with a double down the right field line to extend the Vikings lead to 6-2 after 4 ½ innings.
In the bottom of the fifth, Bethany starter Jadrien Keavy ran into some trouble that brought on Jackson Huiras in relief. Coming in with bases loaded and no one out, Huiras would allow a sacrifice fly and single before inducing a double play to get out of the jam with just two runs scoring.
The Vikings would tally one more run in the sixth as Malachi Santiago would reach on an error and take second on a wild pitch, before Russell drove him in to give Bethany a two run cushion.
Huiras then worked through three innings of clean baseball before walking the first two batters in the ninth. He would strikeout the third hitter of the inning attempting to bunt before Brad Bickmann was called on from the pen. Bickmann would get a flyout to centerfield before striking the final batter out for the save.
Peterson led the charge at the plate in game two with three hits, while Fowler added a pair including the biggest hit of the game.
Huiras got the win in relief, striking out three batters and spreading out four hits over 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
