Parker Burman – Staff Writer
Entering this past weekend the Gustavus baseball team was sitting at a record of 1-2 after a road trip to Topeka, Kansas. Facing off against Luther College in a double header, the Gusties dropped both high scoring games while picking up a 14-10 victory in a game against Simpson College.
Hoping to get back to a winning record and to start a win streak, the Gusties were feeling confident heading into their doubleheader against Wartburg Sunday. They started off strong in game one, winning 13-4 after strong performances at the plate and on the mound. The offensive outburst was led by Senior catcher Ethan Mocchi, Senior infielder Jack Hanson, and Senior outfielder Dalton Thelen.
In game two the offense kept humming as Gustavus collected another victory, 11-6. Once again led by Hanson they also received strong performances from Junior outfielder Bryce Novak, First-year outfielder Connor Wiberg, along with four, one run innings from Junior Andrew Gustafson who collected the win.
“Good energy. We have a couple of transfers that are really solid and are helping us out in a lot of ways. We have a lot of really talented First-years coming in and a lot of really talented returning seniors. We’re all just happy to be back together, playing together in a somewhat normal year, playing the beautiful game of baseball,” said Mocchi.
In game one, Senior right-hander Christian Johnson shut down the Wartburg offense with a clean opening inning, collecting a pair of strikeouts. Gustavus got off to a strong start in their first trip to the plate after Hanson ripped an RBI double to score Novak, putting the Gusties up 1-0. Mocchi would be credited with an RBI after reaching on a fielder’s choice that knocked in Hanson, for the 2-0 lead after one inning.
The score would remain unchanged until the top of the third when Wartburg broke through scoring three runs, two earned. In the bottom half of the inning Gustavus answered right back with a lead off home run by Hanson over the right field fence. Mocchi scored his second run of the game off an RBI single by Sophomore Drake Siens which reclaimed the lead at 4-3. Thelen drove in Siens with a double to cap off the three run inning.
In the fourth Gustavus scored two runs and then a single run in the fifth to push the lead to 8-3. Wartburg answered briefly in the sixth to cut the deficit to 8-4 before the Gusties unleashed their high powered offense in the bottom of the sixth. Posting five runs in the inning Gustavus pushed it out of reach for Wartburg who was unable to make a comeback, resulting in a 13-4 victory for Gustavus.
Game two started off the opposite of game one as Wartburg pushed two runs across the plate in the opening frame. Undeterred the Gusties got one run back to finish the first down 2-1. Gustafson entered the second to take the mound and pitched a scoreless inning. “With the pace of runs per game we have so far this year it makes a pitcher’s job very easy no matter what inning it is and what the score may be,” Gustafson said.
In the bottom of the second Hanson erased the one run deficit with an RBI single to the left side. Before turning the ball back over to Gustafson, Gustavus knocked in two more runs to finish a three run second and take a 4-2 lead.
“Heading back out to the mound with a lead felt awesome. It’s not irregular for our offense to explode and jump on teams and personally I love using that momentum the offense created and taking some fire out to the mound. As a pitcher I want to go get some quick innings for those guys working hard at the plate to get them out of the cold and back in the batter’s box,” Gustafson said.
Another shutdown inning from Gustafson was followed by two more runs in the bottom of the third to push the lead to 6-2. In the top of the next inning Wartburg scratched a run across, cutting the Gustavus lead from four to three. A quiet fifth from both sides led to more runs in the sixth from the Gusties including three stolen bases and Junior Luke Johnson stealing home.
Gustavus scored three more runs in the seventh inning, including a milestone home run for First-year Connor Wiberg, his first of his collegiate career. “It felt good, and was very exciting to see the ball go over the fence,” Wiberg said.
Wartburg made a last attempt at a comeback in the eighth inning plating three runs, to wrap up the scoring for both sides. Gustavus successfully completed the sweep at home with the 11-6 victory.
The Gustavus baseball team will next head to Tucson, Arizona for a week long road trip before starting conference play. “Getting a sweep before we head to Arizona is an awesome confidence boost to remind us what we are capable of every time we show up to the field,” Gustafson said.