The Gustavus Baseball team split its second doubleheader of the MIAC regular season with Saint Mary’s, losing the first game 10-3 before winning the second game 8-2 on Saturday afternoon in St. Peter, Minn. The Gusties were held hitless in three frames and stranded eight men on base in the first game, five of which were in scoring position. Gustavus opened the second game with four singles in the contest’s first six at-bats to post a three-run first inning, and never looked back en route to its first conference win of the season. Gustavus is now 8-10 overall with a MIAC record of 1-3, while Saint Mary’s now sits at 9-16 overall with a MIAC record of 2-4.
The Gusties found their bats silenced in the opener by Cardinals right-hander Andrew Ruf, who held Gustavus to three runs on six hits in a complete game performance. First-year Gustie pitcher Tim Miller was handed his second loss of the season after allowing seven runs on four hits over his three-inning performance.
After Gustavus jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the game, the Cardinals offense tagged Gustie pitcher Tim Miller for a seven-run third inning, of which only three runs were earned. Miller started the inning by issuing walks to two of the first three Saint Mary’s batters before surrendering four hits and another walk in an inning that saw two fielding errors by the Gusties. Twelve Cardinals hitters stepped to the plate in the inning, and Saint Mary’s tallied four runs before the first out was recorded. When the dust settled, Saint Mary’s held a commanding 7-1 lead that proved insurmountable for the Gustavus offense.
The Gusties scored two unearned runs in a fourth inning rally that was prolonged by an errant throw by Cardinals shortstop Kyle Ryan. After Drew Block and Chad Eul led the inning off with a pair of singles, Cody Sukalski laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners. Taylor Fish followed by lashing a line drive towards Ryan, who mishandled the ball and threw wildly to the third baseman, allowing Block and Eul to cross the plate.
Gustie pitchers Miller and Andrew Woitas combined to walk eight Cardinals hitters in the game, including three hit batsmen.
Gustavus turned the tables on Saint Mary’s in the second game with Derek Eddie hurling his first complete game in over two years. Eddie ran into trouble early with the first two hitters of the game reaching base on singles, but he shut the Cardinals down until allowing an unearned run in the sixth. He threw seven innings and gave up two runs on seven hits.
The Gusties stormed out of the gates with singles by Tim Miller and Mitch Johnson to start the home half of the first. Chad Eul followed with a sacrifice fly that plated the first run of the game. Alan and Andrew Woitas followed with another pair of singles to take an early 3-1 lead.
Playing in his 100th career game as a Gustie, Tory Herman started a two-out rally in the second inning with a triple to the gap in right-centerfield. Following a walk and hit batsman, Chad Eul came through again with a two-RBI single.
The Gustavus offense was led by Alan Woitas, who scored twice in the game, and plated two Gusties with a sixth inning triple. Chad Eul also provided an offensive spark with two singles and a sacrifice fly in a three-RBI effort. Eul had a big day at the plate, going 4-5 and driving in four runs.
The Gustavus baseball team will host Hamline in a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 13th, beginning at 2:30pm.