SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Bethany Lutheran baseball team needed to win just one game to claim the UMAC Regular Season Championship on Saturday afternoon and used a comeback in game one to claim a 7-5 win and win the UMAC title before falling 5-0 in game two.
With the results the Vikings finish the regular season at 20-12 overall and 17-4 in the UMAC while the Yellowjackets 20-17 overall and 13-8 in the conference.
Bethany 7 -5 UW-Superior
The Vikings got the scoring started in the second inning of game one with Connor Jones hitting his first home run of the season, a solo shot, to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
Trent Ash got the start on the bump for the Vikings in the contest and was cruising in the early going, allowing just one hit in the first five innings of play. He also got some extra run support in the top of the third as Aidan Russell would double to move Malachi Santiago to third base with the latter later scoring on a Nolan Spence groundout.
Jones would then give the Vikings another run in the sixth inning, as he would knock an infield single to short to score Spence to make things 3-0.
The Yellowjackets would finally get to Ash for a run in the sixth, as a walked batter followed by a wild pitch and a single would plate a run to make it 3-1.
Jackson Huiras would come on to relieve Ash in the bottom of the seventh and the Yellowjackets would get to him early, plating three runs in the frame thanks to three hits and a Bethany error.
The Bethany offense was quick to answer in the top of the eighth though, as Russell and Spence would each get a free pass to first with a Liam Peterson double helping the Vikings re-take the lead at 5-4. A walk and an error would then load the bases for the Vikings with no one out, with UWS inducing a double play but allowing a run to cross to make it 6-4 headed to the bottom of the eighth.
Russell would record a sac fly in the top of the ninth to plate one more run for Bethany, before the Yellowjackets would tag Huiras for one more in the bottom half with the sophomore getting a flyout to left field to end the game and seal the conference championship for the Vikings.
Ash was stellar in the no decision for the Vikings, allowing just two hits and one run in six innings of work while striking out four. Huiras worked three innings of relief allowing three earned runs and striking out three to pick up the win.
Santiago, Spence, and Jones led the Vikings at the plate with two hits apiece in the contest with Jones also recording two RBI.
UW-Superior 5 – 0 Bethany
Lucas Reiff would single through the left side of the infield in the top of the first inning and it turned out to be the only hit the Vikings would get in this one as the Yellowjackets pitching staff would hold them hitless.
UWS would jump on the Vikings in the bottom half of the inning as well, using three hits to push across three runs.
They would add two more runs in the second inning thanks to a pair of hits and a walk to make it 5-0 after two.
That would be all the scoring that would happen in this one though, as Tyson Reger came on in relief for the Vikings and tossed 5.1 innings of shutout ball for the Vikings, striking out three and allowing just two hits. He gave way to Caleb Casas who would strike out two in one scoreless inning of relief to finish things off for Bethany.
The Vikings will now be the No. 1 seed at the upcoming UMAC Tournament hosted by Northwestern. They'll have a first round matchup with Crown who finished as the No. 4 seed, while the Yellowjackets will be the No. 3 seed and will take on No. 2 seed Northwestern.
Bethany's scheduled contest with St. Scholastica tomorrow has also been cancelled.
