MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran baseball team picked up a pair of wins on Sunday afternoon over Northland by scores of 11-4 and 6-3. With the wins the Vikings improve to 13-8 overall and 9-3 in the UMAC.

Bethany Lutheran 11 – 4 Northland

It took less than two innings for Bethany to get on the scoreboard, and they did so in a big way to open the second frame. Liam Peterson drew a walk and stole second before a double from Brad Bickmann brought him across the plate for the games first run. Hunter Pearce followed Bickmann's hit up with a double of his own to put the Vikings up 2-0 before Vaughn Pouncy hit a ball that was mishandled by the LumberJacks and allowed Pearce to score. With the Vikings up 3-0, Malachi Santiago and Eli Fest would reach on back-to-back at-bats to load the bases for Matt Verdugo who would come through with a single to score two more and make the score 5-0 after two innings.

Fest would then single to start the fourth before being moved over and scored on a Ben Hopper single to put the Vikings up 6-0. Gavin Jacobsen continued to deal on the mound for Bethany to open this one, as he worked around a double in the bottom of the fourth with three strikeouts to keep Northland scoreless.

After Brad Bickman opened the fifth with a triple, Pearce continued to imitate his at-bats as for the second time he traded places with him, this time with an RBI triple. Santiago would then bring Pearce across with a ground as the Vikings lead 8-0 after five innings. Bethany would add another run in the sixth as Peterson doubled and then Bickmann singled before the LumberJacks finally broke through in the sixth thanks to a pair of errors that brought in two runs.

The Vikings would add two more runs in the seventh to all but seal the win. Northland added two more unearned runs in the ninth to get the 11-4 final.

Bickmann and Fest both posted big games at the dish, each racking up four hits and a pair of runs scored. Hopper, Pearce, and Pouncy also posted multi-hit games to help the Vikings to 17 base knocks in the contest.

Jacobsen was dominant on the hill for Bethany in this one, allowing two hits and no earned runs in seven innings, while striking out 14.  

Bethany Lutheran 6 – 3 Northland

Pearce carried his strong day over into game two, doubled to open up the second before small ball would bring the senior in for the games first run.

Conor Merton got the start on the mound for Bethany and had a seamless first two innings before running into trouble in the third. After a single to start the inning, Merton would get back-to-back strikeouts. A walk and a single with two outs would ensue before a pair of Bethany errors and a wild pitch allowed three runs to score and gave Northland a 3-1 lead.

Bethany had their chance to respond in the next half inning, as Peterson started the inning with a walk before Bickmann doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Hunter Pearce hit a sacrifice fly to plate a run, but the LumberJacks would get consecutive outs to get out of the inning and keep the 3-2 lead.  After a scoreless fifth, the Vikings would steal another run in the sixth thanks to a pair of Northland errors to even in the game at three. Bethany then scored in consecutive innings to take a lead, as Fest led off the seventh with a walk, stole second, and induced a balk to take third. With nobody out, Verdugo would then hit a sac fly to give the Vikings the lead.

Merton worked into the eighth inning, before being replaced by Jackson Huiras with one out. A lineout to the outfield would double off a run at second though as Bethany would hold a 4-3 lead into the ninth.

Aidan Russell put his stamp on the contest in the to

Top of the ninth, as he blasted a two-run home run to right field to give Huiras a three-run cushion to work with in the ninth. The first-year would then strikeout the side in the bottom half to secure the save.

Russell notched three hits in the second contest, while Hopper, Bickmann, and Pearce each had two.

The Vikings got their second quality start of the day from Merton, as he went 7 1/3 innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out six.