Photo Courtesy of David Faulkner | SPX Sports
Written by Nathan Schroepfer ’21
SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus baseball team completed the sweep of Saint Mary’s University on Saturday with victories of 7-2 and 8-3. The Gusties are now 22-6 overall and 9-3 in the MIAC. Additionally, Jack Hanson (Sr., Minnetonka) hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning of game two, making him the first Gustie to hit 10 home runs in a season since Tony Konicek in 2007.
Gustavus 7, Saint Mary’s 2 | Box Score
In game one, Luke Siegle (Fy., Blaine) tallied his third win of the season, going six innings and surrendering only two hits.
The Gusties put two runs on the board in the bottom of the third inning, coming off of back to back home runs from Bryce Novak (Jr., Cleveland) and Hanson. Novak would add two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, sending a two run shot to center to extend the Gustavus lead to four runs.
Gustavus added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. After a Nick Azar (Sr., Edina) single, Novak added another RBI to his stat line, driving in Azar with a two-out double. Hanson picked up another RBI, singling in Novak with a line drive. Hanson would eventually score to put the Gusties up 7-0.
Saint Mary’s started a rally in the seventh, pushing two runs across before Jack Garrison (Sr., Chanhassen) came in to finish off the game in relief of Siegel.
Gustavus 8, Saint Mary’s 3 | Box Score
In game two, the Gusties jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second with an RBI single from Ethan Mocchi.
The Gustavus bats came alive in the bottom of the fourth inning, putting four runs on the board to jump ahead 5-0. A ground rule double from Dalton Thelen (Sr., Cold Spring) initiated scoring for the Gusties with an RBI double, followed by a Luke Johnson (Jr., Paynesville) RBI single. Novak picked up an RBI on a sac fly, and Thelen reached home on a fielder’s choice to put the Gusties up 5-0.
Saint Mary’s closed the gap with two runs in the fifth and one in the eighth, before Novak and Hanson added two more runs for Gustavus in the bottom half of the eighth inning with a Novak single and Hanson home run.
Lane Glaser (Jr., Hutchinson) picked up the win for Gustavus, going 4.2 innings. Andrew Gustafson (Jr., Maplewood) came in relief for 3.1 innings before Damon Rademacher (Sr., Princeton) came in to shut the door in the ninth.
The Gusties will next be in action on Tuesday when they travel to Moorhead to face Concordia.