COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Gustavus baseball team hit a school record seven home runs in a 22-4 slugfest win against Concordia on Monday to close out the regular season. The Gusties (26-12, 13-7 MIAC) enter the double-elimination MIAC playoffs as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 2 Saint John’s at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at CHS Field in St. Paul.
After two scoreless innings Monday, the Gusties plated four in the third frame. Mitch Casperson (So., Le Sueur) led off with a triple and scored on a single by Bryce Novak (Jr., Cleveland). Drake Siens (So., Rogers) later hit a three-run homer over the center field fence.
Concordia answered with a two-run homer in the bottom half to make it a 4-2 game. The Gusties got those two runs back in the fourth as Connor Wiberg (Fy., Eagan) hit a sac fly and Jack Hanson (Sr., Minnetonka) followed with an RBI double.
The Cobbers scored one in the bottom half with an RBI double, but the Gusties increased their lead to 10-3 in the fifth. Logan Bjorkman (Jr., Lindstrom) hit a two-run homer to right center and two batters later, Casperson hit a two-run blast of his own to right field.
Concordia scored its fourth and final run in the fifth after a pair of walks and an infield single, making the score 10-4. Gustavus added a run in the sixth on a sac fly from Jack Nelson (So., Cottage Grove) and then blew the game wide open with 11 runs on 10 hits in the seventh. Four home runs were hit in the inning as Casperson started the rally with a solo homer, his second of the game, Ethan Mocchi (Sr., Champlin) hit a two-run shot, Bjorkman hit a three-run bomb, his second of the day, and Luke Johnson (Jr., Paynesville) hit a solo shot. The NCAA Division III record for home runs in an inning is six.
Twelve different Gusties had at least one hit, while four players had three or more hits led by Casperson batting 4-for-4 with five runs, three RBI, a double, triple, two home runs, and a walk. He was a single shy of hitting for the cycle.
Six different pitchers saw time on the mound. Noah Meffert (So., Minneapolis) was credited with the win after pitching a scoreless and hitless sixth inning while striking out two batters.