Minneapolis, Minn. – The Gustavus baseball team achieved its first victory on the season, defeating Grand View University out of Des Moines, Iowa 7-4 in game two of a doubleheader on Sunday night at the Metrodome. Gustavus suffered a narrow 4-3 loss in the opening game of the doubleheader. The Gusties improve to 1-3 overall and will play their last doubleheader in the Metrodome next Sunday night, March 18th against Wartburg College. The first pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
Game 1 – Gustavus was off to a fast start in the first inning. Kellan Euerle (St. Cloud, Minn.) shut down the Grand View hitters in the top-half of the inning, with all three of batters grounding out to third base, manned by Taylor Fish (Brandon Valley, S.D.). In the bottom-half of the first, Erik Sveen (Excelsior, Minn.) led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Scott Benjamin (Northfield, Minn.) followed suit two batters later, singling to left field and advancing to second base on the throw while Sveen scored to give the Gusties their first run of the evening. Benjamin scored on a Tim Miller (Eden Prairie, Minn.) single to left to put the Gusties up 2-0 after one inning of play.
Grand View wasted no time responding to Gustavus’ early lead. Micah Loegering doubled down the left field line to lead off the inning. Loegering’s double was followed by a towering home run off the bat Matt Miller that cleared the 23-foot “baggy” in right field. Gustie pitcher Kellan Euerle gathered himself after the home run, striking out the following batter, then forcing the next batter to ground out. Euerle closed out the inning a few batters later, striking out Zac Smit.
The Gusties would re-take the lead in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs, Drew Block (Rochester, Minn.) singled through the right-side of the infield and later advanced to third after a Scott Benjamin single to right-center. Tim Miller took advantage of the opportunity with runners on the corners, hitting a line drive to left-center, scoring Block from third base to put Gustavus up 3-2.
Once again, Grand View responded quickly with Devlin Hogans crushing a triple to right-center. After two strike outs by Euerle, Hogans would score on a passed ball, evening the score at 3-3. Grand View would eventually score again in the sixth inning, thanks to a lead-off triple by Dane Carlson. Carlson would score the game-winning run on another passed ball.
Despite a strong performance, Kellan Euerle suffered his second loss of the season, falling to 0-2 overall. Euerle pitched six complete innings, giving up four runs on eight hits, walking one batter and striking out five.
Erik Sveen, Scott Benjamin and Tim Miller led the way for the Gusties offensively. Sveen was 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, Benjamin was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, and Miller was 2-for-3 from the dish, with two RBI and a walk.
Game 2 –With the score tied 2-2 after four complete innings, the Gustavus bats exploded for five runs in the top-half of the fifth inning, helping them to their first victory of the season by the score of 7-4
Gustavus was down 2-1 after the first inning and tied the game up in the top-half of the fourth before their big five-run inning in the fifth. Grand View couldn’t muster enough to dig out of the five run hole, managing to only bring two more runs across the plate in the remaining innings.
In the fifth inning, the Gusties played small ball, bringing across all five runs without any extra-base hits. Timely hitting and clutch base running, coupled with Grand View errors were the key components to the big inning. The Gusties did the simple things the right way, putting together a combination of singles and fundamental base-running. They scored five runs on four hits, with one Grand View error and two batters being hit by a pitch.
The Gusties were led by the trio of Erik Sveen, Kellan Euerle and Tim Miller who accounted for six of the seven Gustie RBI. Sveen was in the lead-off spot, going 2-for-4 from the plate with one RBI, two runs and two hits. Euerle was 2-for-4 as well, hitting in three runs and scoring one of his own. Miller was 1-for-4, scoring Euerle and Sveen in the fifth inning.
Chris Kelly (Prior Lake, Minn.) picked up his first win of the season from the mound. Kelly pitched four innings, giving up two runs on three hits while striking out two and walking two. Kelly is now 1-1 on the young season. Logan Peymann (Fairmont, Minn.) also saw his first action on the mound this season, pitching three innings and allowing five hits and two runs