MANKATO, Minn. --- Crown Baseball's record nine-game win streak was snapped on Tuesday afternoon when the reigning UMAC champions Bethany Lutheran came back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Crown 4-3. In game two, a late comeback by the Storm left the game-tying run on second as Crown dropped the latter contest 6-4.

In game one,  all three runs came from a third-inning rocket from the bat of shortstop Seth Betts, who had three RBIs on the home run to left center, scoring both Matt Sanchez and Kyle Schroedle. However, a Viking home run in the sixth inning knotted the game up at three apiece, and a Bethany sacrifice fly scored the eventual winning run in the seventh. First baseman Brooks Repking led the team with two hits, and Betts had the lone extra base hit. 

Sophomore pitcher Sydney Ness started the game for the Storm, pitching a quality start with three earned runs in six innings of work, striking out three along the way. Senior Kress Medina finished the game on the mound and didn't allow an earned run. However, his one run allowed gave him the loss in the contest, dropping his record to 1-1. 

In game two, it was the Vikings that started with a three-run lead after a big first inning. The Storm crept back in when Bailey Sarto was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the third, and Gideon Dunn hit a sacrifice fly to score Betts to make it a one-run Viking lead. By the end of the seventh, the Vikings had doubled their run output and had a commanding four-run lead over the Storm on a day when both teams struggled to string hits together overall. Crown went for a late in the top of the ninth, when Sarto hit a single that scored Ethan Riley (pinch-running for Betts) and Chad Herrera hitting into a fielder's choice to score Hunter Orozco (pinch running for Camden Wiens). Unfortunately, the scoring stopped there as the Vikings completed the sweep.

It was first-year pitcher Derek Albers who started for the Storm, going two innings and not giving up a run in the second inning, striking out four in his day of work. Fellow first-year Rico Avila added 3.1 innings of relief, with one earned run, and Nicholas Schroedle went 1.2 innings with two earned runs. Ethan Hyatt finished the game for the Storm, with two strikeouts and only one hit allowed in a solid inning of pitching.

The Storm drop to 4-2 in conference play, still sitting in third place in the UMAC, with lots of baseball yet to be played. The Storm are set to continue UMAC play on Saturday with a matchup against the North Central Rams on the NCU field in Coon Rapids.