MANKATO, Minn. – Trailing 5-2 and down to their final six outs, the Bethany Lutheran baseball team put up nine runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel them to an 11-5 win over Augsburg. With the win the Vikings move to 6-6 overall, while the Auggies fall to 3-9.
Bethany got the scoring started in the first inning when Ben Hopper hit a towering pop fly in the infield that resulted in an Augsburg error and allowed Matt Verdugo to score from second base. The Auggies would lead off the second inning with a triple and plate a run on the next at bat with a sacrifice fly to even things at one.
The visitors would push three more runs across in the fourth inning to force Viking starter Trent Herrboldt from the contest and Eli Fest would come on and record the last out of the inning. In the top of the fifth, a walk and a double from Augsburg would plate them another run but it would be the last they scored in the contest as Fest would settle in. To open the bottom half of the fifth, Reed Brown smashed a double to the left center gap before Aidan Russell knocked a two-out single up the middle to bring the score to 5-2 after five complete.
The scoring would hit a standstill for the next 2 ½ innings as Fest would throw three shutout innings and allow just two hits to keep the Vikings in the contest.
In the bottom of the eighth, Bethany would be the beneficiaries of four hits, three walks, and three hit batters to plate nine runs and take an 11-5 lead. Aidan Russell and Matt Verdugo both reached base twice in the inning and scored two runs, with Verdugo delivering a two-RBI single in the process. Malachi Santiago was the one who was responsible for the game-winning RBI, as he took a walk with the bases loaded to plate the go-ahead run.
Garrett Hoffman would came on in the top of the ninth to shut the door for the Vikings, going 1-2-3 to secure the win.
Seven different players recorded hits in the contest for Bethany, with Russell and Verdugo both plating 2 RBI. Verdugo also led Bethany in the run scoring department as he had three in the contest, while Russell had two.
Fest got the win in relief in this one, going 4 1/3 innings and striking out four, allowing just one earned run in his first appearance of the year.
Bethany will be back in action tomorrow when they host UW-Superior in a UMAC contest at 3 p.m.
