St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus baseball team registered a total of 25 runs on 30 hits in its sweep over Carleton on Monday afternoon at the Gustie Baseball Field. The Gusties defeated the Knights 13-5 in game one and 12-3 in game two, earning their first conference sweep of the season. With the wins, Gustavus improves to 3-3 within league play and 10-9 overall. Carleton drops to 1-5 in the MIAC and 6-13 overall.
Game One
Although Carleton took a 4-2 lead after scoring four runs on four hits in the top of the third inning, Gustavus responded with 11 unanswered runs in the remainder of the opening contest. Despite allowing five runs on 11 hits, Gustavus starter Kellan Euerle took advantage of a lot of run support to earn his second win of the season. Euerle struck out two batters and walked three in the complete-game victory.
After tying the game 4-4 with a run on an error in the bottom of the fourth inning, Gustavus broke the game open with three runs in the fifth and six runs in the sixth. Drew Block had back-to-back two-run singles in consecutive at-bats in the fifth and sixth innings. Block finished 3-for-4 with two runs and five RBI to lead Gustavus at the dish.
Tim Miller and Taylor Fish also had big days at the plate in game one. Using his speed to get on base with two bunt hits, Miller went 4-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. Fish finished 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Only Kevin Roth recorded an extra-base hit for the Gusties, a two-run double in the sixth inning.
Carleton’s Anderson Cole suffered the loss (2-2), allowing seven runs (4 earned runs) on eight hits. The Gusties matched their season-high with 11 RBI in the game.
Game Two
To go along with the 14 hits the team belted out in game one, Gustavus matched its season-best mark with 16 hits in the nightcap.
Taking advantage of a pair of Carleton errors in the first inning, Scott Benjamin was able to come through with a two-out, two-run single to center field to give Gustavus a 2-0 lead.
Carleton once again responded with a big inning of its own, grabbing a 3-2 lead after scoring three runs on four hits in the top of the third inning. Carleton’s runs in the third would be its last of the game.
RBI singles by Tim Miller and Kellan Euerle put Gustavus on top 4-3 in the bottom of the third, and a two-run single by Drew Block extended the lead to 6-3 in the fourth. The Gusties went on to add six runs on six hits in the fifth. RBI hits in the inning came from Max Laureano, Erik Sveen, Taylor Fish, and Block.
Sveen and Benjamin both had a three-hit showing in game two; Sveen went 3-for-5 with three runs, an RBI, and a triple, while Benjamin went 3-for-4 with one run and two RBI. Block finished 2-for-4 with one run, three RBI and a double, Euerle went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and David Tranvik went 2-for-4 with two runs.
Grant Soderberg picked up his second win of the season to improve to 2-2 overall with another strong performance on the hill. The left-hander allowed three runs (2 earned runs) on nine hits while striking out a season-high nine hitters in six innings. Soderberg did not walk one batter, nor did he allow an extra-base hit in the game.
Suffering the loss for Carleton was Paul Dimick (1-4) who allowed 11 runs (8 earned runs) on 14 hits.
The Gustavus baseball team will be back in action on Saturday, April 14 when it plays host to Saint Mary’s in a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Gustie Baseball Field.