ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Gustavus baseball team dropped a pair of conference games to its toughest MIAC opponent this season, the Bethel Royals. The Gusties fell in the double header 4-1 and 8-6 and moves to 18-6 overall and 7-3 in the conference. The Gusties have not been swept by a conference opponent since the MIAC Championship in 2019 against Saint John’s.
Gustavus 1, Bethel 4 | Box Score
Bryce Novak (Jr., Cleveland) led off for the Gusties with a hit to get on base but the Black and Gold couldn’t make much happen in the first inning. The Royals stayed strong on the rubber before plating four runs in the second inning.
Andrew Gustafson (Jr., Maplewood) provided relief after the fourth Royal run and kept Bethel scoreless through five innings. The Gusties tacked on one more hit in the fourth before tame fifth and sixth innings. Coming off of MIAC Athlete of the Week honors, Gavin Baker (Jr., Lakeville) hit a home run to left field for the lone Gustie run in the 4-1 final.
Gustavus 6, Bethel 8 | Box Score
Gustavus earned its first lead of the day in the second inning after Dalton Thelen (Sr., Cold Spring) found the left side gap for an RBI double, scoring Ethan Mocchi (Sr., Champlin). The Royals fired right back with three runs of their own in the third inning. Thelen continued to answer for the Gusties with a line drive to left field to plate two more runs, evening the score to 3-3.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Drake Siens (So., Rogers) hit a home run deep into left field to drive in two runs for a 5-3 Gustie lead.
Bethel tacked on one run in the sixth and another in the seventh, making it a 6-5 game before heading into the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth, Novak hit an RBI single to tie the score back up. Bethel heated up their bats in the ninth inning, plating two more runs to cool the Gusties in the 8-6 game two.
Gustavus stranded eight runners and had six runs off of 10 hits. The Gusties will next host Northwestern on Thursday, April 21st with a 2:30 first pitch.