Photo Credit - McKenna Reese '23
SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus baseball team completed its weekend conference sweep winning 11-9 over Carleton with a walk off grand slam, followed by a convincing 17-1 game two victory. With the wins the Gusties improve to 16-4 overall and 5-1 in the MIAC.
After a quick first inning, Ethan Mocchi (Sr., Champlin) answered for the Gusties once again with a double to right field before a Drake Siens (So., Rogers) RBI single brought in the first run. Luke Johnson (Jr., Paynesville) kept the Gustie firepower with a double to left field scoring Siens and Nick Azar (Sr., Edina). Bryce Novak (Jr., Cleveland) tacked on an RBI double to right field, elevating the Black and Gold to a 4-0 lead.
Gustavus plated a fifth run off of a sac fly in the third before going into a tame fourth inning.
The Knights played catch up in the fifth, putting on the pressure with five runs.
The Gusties heated up in the bottom of the fifth, Jack Hanson (Sr., Minnetonka) led off with a home run followed by a Gavin Baker (Jr., Lakeville) home run.
On the rubber, Baker ran into issues in the seventh, allowing a hit and two walks to load the bases before Jack Garrison (Sr., Chanhassen) came into relief. Carleton took over with two more runs for a 9-7 edge over the Gusties.
In the top of the eighth, three walks loaded the Gusties on bases before Azar blasted a grand slam for a dramatic 11-9 walk off win.
Garrison took his third win of the season allowing one hit and one run.
Gustavus 17, Carleton 1 (7 innings)
Mocchi started game two with a chopper up the middle to score Novak, putting the Gusties on the board. Azar added on a sac fly to bring in Hanson before a Dalton Thelen (Sr., Cold Spring) three-run home run gave Gustavus some breathing room, with a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, Baker singled up the middle to score Johnson followed by Mocchi finding the pocket to extend the lead to seven. Azar tacked on an RBI single before closing out the second inning with an 8-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the third, Baker sent the ball deep into right field to score Logan Bjorkman (Jr., Lindstrom) for a 9-0 edge.
With bases loaded, Mocchi continued to dominate the offense, crushing the ball for the second grand slam of the day for the Gusties to run away with a 13-0 lead.
Bjorkman tallied on one more run before heading into the fourth.
Gustavus packed on three more runs in innings four and five before Macalester snapped the shutout with a run in the sixth.
Adam Biewen (So., Golden Valley) made his first appearance of the season in the seventh inning, striking out all three Knights he faced as the closer. Mitch Casperson (So., Le Sueur) earned the win on the mound pitching one inning, allowing one hit and one run.
Mocchi led the offense through both games, going 3-for-5 with five runs and six RBI.
The Gusties will continue conference play at home hosting Augsburg on Thursday, April 13th at home with first pitch at 2:30.