NORTHFIELD, Minn. --- Crown Baseball defeated the Carleton Knights 12-6 to even the Storm's record at 8-8. The Storm were led by an impressive day from second baseman
Bailey Sarto, who had five RBIs, three runs, a home run, and seven total bases in the best game of his Crown career so far.
The Storm started out in the first inning when Sarto hit a two-run home run, scoring Betts along with himself. After the Knights countered with a run of their own in the third, the scoring stopped until the fifth inning. In the fifth, the Storm took advantage of several Knights miscues, starting with outfielder
Matt Sanchez scoring on a wild pitch. Next,
Seth Betts scored on a passed ball, and Sarto scored on a throwing error after that. In the sixth inning, Sarto had another RBI hit, this time a single that scored
Kyle Schroedle. Another Knight run came in after that, but the Storm scored twice in the eighth to pull ahead further. In that inning,
Gideon Dunn hit an RBI sacrifice fly to score Betts, and
Kress Medina singled to score
Levi Knott. In the bottom of the eight, the Knights scored four runs to make it a two-run game, but the Storm scored four runs in the top of the ninth to retake control of the contest. Knott hit an RBI single to score
Dylan O'Neil, and Sarto doubled to score both Knott and Betts to cap his impressive game, and Medina finished the Storm offensive production with a hit for an RBI single to score Sarto.
Pitching for the Storm, first-year starter
Derek Albers won the first game of his collegiate career, going six innings and only allowing two earned runs. Sophomore
Ethan Hyatt relieved Albers and pitched a shutout inning, striking out one along the way.
Nicholas Schroedle continued the game after Hyatt before sophomore
Sydney Ness came in for the four-out save. Ness allowed only one hit and struck out two as he faced only six batters. This was Ness' first save of his collegiate career.
Notes:
Seth Betts had four runs and four walks, and was only a single walk away from tying the Storm game record. Betts also added two steals;
Levi Knott and
Kress Medina had one steal each. Both teams had two errors, with
Sydney Ness and Medina both receiving one.
The Storm look to continue their solid start as they enter UMAC play, starting with a matchup on Saturday with the UW-Superior Yellowjackets in northern Wisconsin.
