Parker Burman-
This past weekend, the Gustavus Baseball Team squared off against conference rival Macalester in a homestand doubleheader. In game one of the weekend series, Gustavus held on to an early lead for an important 9-6 win over Macalester. Game two saw lots of offense but it was all one-sided as the Gusties came away with the 11-1 win over the Scots.
Following a one-run first frame from the Scots, the Gusties belted a pair of homers in the bottom of the inning. Senior Bryce Novak smashed a solo shot to right-center field on the first pitch of his at-bat. Senior Chris Knowles, not to be outdone, belted his own homer on a fly ball to right field to drive in a pair of runs giving Gustavus a 3-1 lead.
“My teammates did an awesome job of setting me up and putting me in good situations to be able to drive in runs so all the credit to them,” Knowles said.
In what was to be a back-and-forth battle all game long, Macalester fought back in the top of the second to tie the game 3-3. A Macalester sacrifice bunt moved a pair of runs up a base to put runners on second and third, followed by a single to knock in a run. A swinging strikeout from the left hand of Senior Adam Biewen went wide to allow another Scot run to score.
Gustavus would go on to score four more runs in the bottom of the third and an additional pair of runs in the fourth. Macalester would score a combined three runs across the fourth and fifth innings to make the score 9-6. After the fifth inning, no more runs would be scored in the final two frames of the game. Junior Hunter Sheehan in relief of Biewen tossed a 1-2-3 six inning helping to prevent any chance of a Macalester comeback. Sheehan would come back to the mound in the seventh for three more outs to secure the save of the day.
“To be honest, I wasn’t fully satisfied with how I pitched on Saturday. I made some mistakes that the hitters took advantage of. Overall though, I was pleased that our hitters helped me out and got me some run support early on in the game. That allowed me to pitch freely and just focus on throwing strikes which ended up being enough to get the job done,” Biewen said.
“Our pitchers did a great job of limiting runs especially when they threatened and got runners on and in scoring position. The offense also did a great job of continuing to score and add to the lead. It was a great job of keeping the pressure on them even when they were starting to come back,” Knowles said.
Game two would see nearly as many runs scored as in game one but all but one of the twelve runs scored would belong to the Gustie offense. In his first start of the year, lefty starter First-year Benny McDonald began the contest with three straight strikeouts. Gustavus started the game’s scoring in the bottom of the first as First-year Danny Gavin scored on a Knowles groundout. Senior Gavin Baker would score on a single from Junior Brady Schmitz, the first of a three-hit day for Schmitz.
“I think just staying aggressive and swinging early in the count has been a big thing for me. Sometimes I watch too many pitches and find myself in unfavorable 2 strike counts and tend to struggle, so finding ways to swing early and do damage on the first couple of pitches of the at-bats is when I’m at my best. I was able to do that in my first at-bat and my confidence was up for the rest of the game,” Schmitz said.
“Overall [we] got the job done and felt pretty solid. It was a good feeling to be able to go out and start my first collegiate game. I got told right as the first game ended I was going to start and from that moment my mindset was just to go have fun and shut them down,” McDonald said.
Novak extended the Gustie lead in the second, driving in a run for his fifth hit of the day. Gavin continued the Gustie offensive outburst, driving in two runs with a single that dropped into shallow left field. With runners standing on second and third, Schmitz launched a three-run homer deep beyond the outfield fence, putting the Gusties up 8-0.
In a third scoreless inning of work, McDonald picked up his fifth strikeout of the day. Baker and Schmitz would both score in the bottom half as both were hit by pitches and advanced on a passed ball, before scoring on a single, putting Gustavus up 10-0. The Scots finally broke through in the sixth as a run scored on a passed ball, bringing the score to 10-1. Gustavus would score one more run in the sixth to reclaim the ten-run lead.
With a pair of non-conference games against Bethany Lutheran canceled this week the Gusties have just two games left on the schedule. Gustavus will play Saturday at 6:30 p.m. for a late-night doubleheader against Hamline.
“We really have our backs against the wall going into these last four games. We are in fifth place and with only the top four teams making playoffs, it’s now or never. All we can do is control what we can control and if a few other games go our way we’ll be right where we wanna be in a week” Biewen said.
“We know that we have to continue to win if we want to play in the conference playoffs, so every game from here on out is super important. As a team, we are locked in and focused, taking it one game at a time. We’re definitely motivated by all of the adversity we have experienced all year long and I feel we are playing our best baseball at the right time,” Schmitz said.