MINNEAPOLIS --- Crown Baseball competed at US Bank Stadium on Thursday night, and unfortunately was by the Hamline Pipers defeated in both games 5-2 (in ten innings) and 3-2. Both Nicholas Schroedle and Derek Albers pitched quality starts, with Schroedle going 6.2 innings and allowing two earned runs, striking out five along the way. Albers went six innings and pitched a complete game, allowing three runs. 

In the first game, Crown struck first when first-year Josh Keeter walked and found home after junior Seth Betts hit a triple. Betts added another run in the third inning when he homered to left-center, his first home run of the year. In the fifth, Betts hit a single to be only a double away from hitting for the cycle, but a Piper outfielder was able to track down a fly ball to prevent the junior from the accomlishment. After the Storm took a 2-0 lead, Hamline came back with one run in both the sixth and seventh inning to force extras. The next three innings remained knotted up at 2 until the Pipers scored three runs in the tenth inning to steal game one. 

Schroedle received the start for game one, with Betts relieving him in the seventh inning. Betts went 2.1 innings of a shutout ball, only allowing one hit. Sophomore Dylan Balfour got the call after Betts, and pitched the remainder of the contest, striking out two.

In game two, Crown only had two hits, with Keeter and sophomore Chad Herrera both reaching on a single. The Storm scored two unearned runs when a throwing error by the Piper third baseman scored both first-year Spencer Lilienthal and sophomore Kyle Schroedle. 

Crown College Baseball will now head to Florida for their Spring Break Baseball Trip, with games starting on Thursday, March 12.