The Gustavus baseball team dropped two games against Saint Mary’s University Saturday afternoon in St. Peter. After a slow start offensively, a late Gustavus rally fell just short and the Gusties fell 7-6 in game one. Saint Mary’s built a big lead late in game two, racing away from the Gusties 15-4. Gustavus falls to 10-11 overall and 3-5 in the MIAC, while Saint Mary’s improves to 13-14 overall and 2-6 in the MIAC.
Game 1 – Gustavus could not quite pull together a complete comeback against the Cardinals in game one of Saturday afternoon’s doubleheader.
Things were looking bleak for the Gusties heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Trailing 6-1 with two runners on base, Tim Miller (Eden Prairie, Minn.) smacked a two-out double to left center field, scoring Erik Sveen (Excelsior, Minn.) and Taylor Fish (Brandon, S.D.) to chip away at the Cardinal lead (6-3).
Saint Mary’s added a much needed insurance run in the top of the seventh inning when Vince Lulic drew a walk to lead off the inning. He then stole second, advanced to third on a Paul LaNasa flyout to right field, and scored on a Zach Wolfe sacrifice fly to right field, extending the Cardinal lead to 7-3.
Gustavus came close to tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning thanks to a couple untimely errors by Saint Mary’s. Sveen reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Chris Kelly (Prior Lake, Minn.) from third base to cut the lead to 7-4. Fish singled and both he and Sveen later scored (7-6) on an error by the Saint Mary’s left fielder who unsuccessfully laid out for a fly ball hit by Drew Block (Rochester, Minn.). The two-out rally fell short when Garrett Fuchs (Cold Spring, Minn.) grounded out to second base to end the game.
Kellan Euerle (St. Cloud, Minn.) suffered the loss on the hill, allowing five runs (four earned runs) on nine hits in four innings. Logan Peymann (Fairmont, Minn.) finished the final three innings, allowing two runs on three hits.
Erik Sveen led the Gusties at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
Game 2 – A triple by Drew Block that drove in two runs allowed Gustavus to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning of game two. From there, Saint Mary’s responded with 14 unanswered runs in the remaining innings.
The Cardinals tied the game in the fourth inning with two runs on three hits. They eventually took over the lead with an eight-run sixth inning that blew the gates wide open. Saint Mary’s scored seven of their eight runs with two outs in the inning, rallying with only one extra-base hit, which was a double by Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.). Gustavus could not respond and Saint Mary’s poured it on in the seventh, scoring three more runs to bring the scoring to a close.
Erik Sveen recorded another strong game at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one run to lead the way.
Gustavus starter Grant Soderberg falls to 1-3 with the loss. Soderberg went five and one third innings, allowing six runs on seven hits.
Tomorrow afternoon’s game against Buena Vista has been postponed indefinitely. Gustavus will take a trip north to Moorhead on Wednesday, April 18 for a doubleheader against Concordia with the first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.