MANKATO, Minn. – For the second time in program history and first time since 2018, the Bethany Lutheran baseball team has claimed the UMAC regular season title. The Vikings finished a sweep of North Central with wins of 10-5 and 11-0 on Saturday to improve to 18-3 in the conference and win the title outright. After starting 3-3 in the UMAC, the Vikings have rattled off 15 straight conference wins en route to the top spot. Bethany will serve as the host of the UMAC Tournament and will be the No. 1 seed.

Bethany 10 – 5 North Central
Game two of the series started on Friday afternoon but was suspended due to weather and finished on Saturday.

The Rams opened the scoring on Friday after a pair of walks put a runner in scoring position and a single up the middle scored the games first run. Gavin Jacobsen would get out of the jam by recording a strikeout and getting a flyout to left to end the threat.

After a scoreless bottom of the first, the bottom of the Vikings order got things going in the bottom of the second. Hunter Pearce and Izaak Stevens would draw walks before Pearce stole third and scored on a throwing error by the catcher that also allowed Stevens to advance to second. Malachi Santiago would then come through with a double to left field to bring home Stevens and give the Vikings a 2-1 lead.

Jacobsen would toss another quick inning in the third before Ben Hopper would knock a one-out triple to the right field corner and score on a Liam Peterson sac fly to make the score 3-1 after three.

Three strikeouts in the fourth from Jacobsen would bring Bethany back to the plate with the rain and storms starting to roll in. Pearce would flyout to start the inning before Stevens launched a moonshot home run to left field to put the Vikings up 4-1. That was the last at-bat of the day though as things were suspended due to weather to be resumed on Saturday.

The Rams would get out of the fourth with no more runs allowed after the home run but after Ty Vollmar tossed a quick top of the fifth, the Vikings opened the game up in the bottom half. They would knock five hits and use a pair of NCU errors to score five runs in the frame with a Peterson triple headlining the inning that put the Vikings up 9-1.

Bethany would score another run in the bottom of the sixth as Aidan Russell would single and steal second and eventually third, with his steal attempt of third resulting in an errant throw that allowed him to trot home. The Rams would answer back with a run in the top of the seventh before scoring three in the ninth but Vollmar would eventually get a popout to end the contest.

Russell led the Bethany offense in game one with three hits with Santiago and Stevens adding two each. 

Jacobsen got the no decision on the bump, striking out 10 in four innings of work. Vollmar got the win in relief, tossing the final five innings and striking out seven. 

Bethany 11 – 0 North Central

Brad Bickmann took to the mound in game two and put on a show for the Vikings. He made quick work of the Rams in the top of the first to bring Bethany to the plate, where the offense made sure to give him some run support.

An error from the Rams opened the inning and allowed a runner to reach, before Russell was beaned and Hopper would bunt for a hit to load the bases with no one out. Vaughn Pouncy and Hunter Pearce would each plate a run with a single, before Stevens walked to bring home another run. Garrett Hoffman then stepped up and hit a single to left center to plate two more and give the Vikings a 5-0 lead.

Bickmann would continue his dominance on the mound, allowing no hits through his first three innings of work. In the bottom of the third, Pearce would walk before Stevens was hit by a pitch to put a runner in scoring position. Hoffman would then lace a double to the left field fence to bring another across and give the Vikings a 6-0 lead.

Bethany would add two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, as Hopper doubled to left to open the inning before Peterson paid off a long at-bat with a line drive single up the middle the put runners on the corners. Peterson would then steal second with an errant throw allowing Hopper to score from third, before Pearce singled to bring home Peterson and put the home team up 8-0.

Bickmann trotted out for what turned out to be his last inning in the fifth, as he tallied a pair of strikeouts and a popout to finish his day. He allowed no hits in his five innings of work, striking out six batters in the process.

Bethany would plate three more runs in the bottom of the fifth as Russell would hit a sac fly, with Hopper and Peterson knocking run scoring hits to push the Viking lead to 11-0.

RJ Brothen would then come on in the top of the sixth and pitch a scoreless frame before Austin Haus and Riley Nelson combined to toss a scoreless seventh with a groundout to Ben Hopper ending the game and giving the Vikings the UMAC title.

Hopper led Bethany at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Peterson, Pearce, Hoffman, and Fest all also added a pair of hits with Hoffman notching a team best three RBIs.