The Gustavus baseball team jumped back into the thick of the MIAC Playoff chase by sweeping Macalester 3-2 (9 innings) and 14-3 in St. Peter on Wednesday afternoon. The Gusties, who got strong pitching performances from Ricky Sabo in game one and Matt Musta in game two, improved to 14-16 overall and 8-8 in the MIAC.
Game one was a close pitching duel between Ricky Sabo of Gustavus and Ted Kimble of Macalester. Timely hitting led to the Gusties taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning as Ash Larsen doubled with two outs and Wade Vrieze followed with a single that scored Larsen. Ricky Sabo made the 1-0 lead hold up as he tossed a no-hitter through seven-and-one third innings. However, Macalester’s Allen Comb’s broke up the no-hitter and tied the game at 1-1 with a home run to right center field. Gustavus could not muster a run in the bottom of the seventh sending the game into extra innings. Macalester took a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth when Mike Merrill drove in Marc Rodwogin from second base with a single, and then Gustavus tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, when Ash Larsen drove in Nate Bower with a two-out single. The Gusties tallied the game-winning run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning as Ben Sherer stroked a double to left center field and then scored on a single by Shea Roehrkasse. Ricky Sabo allowed two runs on four hits in eight innings to get the win for Gustavus. Ben Eklo pitched a perfect ninth to get the save. Ted Kimble was tagged with the loss for Macalester. He scattered nine hits and allowed three runs in eight-and-one-third innings of work.
In game two, the Gusties exploded for eight runs in the first two innings and never looked back on their way to a 14-3 victory. Gustavus had two big innings scoring five times in the second and six times in the fifth. The Gusties strung together six singles to score their five runs in the second and then Ben Sherer drilled a grand slam home run in the fifth when Gusties scored six runs. Gustavus pounded out 16 hits against three Macalester pitchers. Sherer was 2-for-5 with six RBI, and Andy Schmidt and Wade Vrieze both whent 3-for-4. Matt Musta was the winning pitcher for Gustavus. He allowed two hits in six innings of work. Ben Levy pitched the seventh allowing three earned runs. John Simkins was the losing pitcher for Macalester. He allowed seven hits and 6 runs (5 earned) in one-and-one-third innings on the mound. Macalester falls to 10-20 overall and 6-10 in the MIAC.
Gustavus will host Buena Vista in a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday (April 28) at 2:30 pm.