CARVER, Minn. --- Baseball coaches and players arrived at dawn to begin to prepare the field for their first home contest since 2018 at Woody Swanson Field in Carver. While attendance still limited by the pandemic, Storm Baseball finally had a chance to host their fans, drawing socially distant masked fans in the chilly April weather. Those fans were in for a treat because for the first time in school history, Crown College Baseball defeated the St. Scholastica Saints in their conference opener.
The Saints, a perennial UMAC championship contender, tied the game up in the ninth inning, but a bases-loaded two-out single by Seth Betts in the bottom of the tenth sealed the game 5-4 for the Storm. In the second contest, the Saints defeated Crown 8-0 to split the series.
The reason the Storm remained competitive in game one was another stellar outing for senior starter Eric Newman, who had eleven strikeouts and two earned runs in seven innings of work. Fellow senior Seth Betts relieved Newman and allowed two earned runs in the remaining three innings with three strikeouts.
Crown scored early in the contest off Kyle Schroedle's seventh home run of the season, a three-run shot out of the ballpark. To properly understand how impressive this is, the old Crown single-season record was four home runs, and the Storm all-time mark is eight. In half of a season, he has nearly matched the all-time mark. That home run scored Bailey Sarto, who reached after being hit by a pitch and Mason Brock, who reached on a double, making it 3-0 in Crown's favor.
As the Saints closed in to make it 3-2, the Storm added another run in the seventh. Mason Brock singled, and then Seth Betts doubled to get Brock to third. Kyle Schroedle walked to fill the bases, and an error by the Saints' third baseman forced by Chad Herrera got Brock home.
The Saints tied up the game with a single run in both the eighth and ninth innings. With Betts in scoring position in the ninth, St. Scholastica intentionally walked Schroedle and ended up pitching out of the jam, forcing extra innings. The Storm kept the score at four apiece and started the tenth inning with a single by Aaron Clogston. Knowing it only takes one run to win in this situation, Clogston swiped second base to get into scoring position. Nick Schroedle walked, and Brock singled to load the bases, with the Saints collecting two outs along the way. From there, Betts singled to score Clogston and put the Storm 1-0 in UMAC play.
In game two, the Saints scored early, with all eight runs coming in the first three innings. Nick Schroedle received the call to start the second contest and allowed one earned run (three unearned) in two innings. First-year Aidan Volk-Specht relieved Schroedle.
After Volk-Specht, Jacob Van Dam came into the game and pitched a stellar four innings of outs. He allowed three hits, one walk, and struck out five. Junior Dylan Balfour relieved Van Dam and pitched for the second time this season, going three innings and allowing one hit. Van Dam and Balfour combined for seven innings with four total hits allowed and eight strikeouts, a dynamic relief performance.
Unfortunately, the Storm offense wasn't as effective in the second outing, with only three hits in the contest. Rhys Dewick, Chad Herrera, and Seth Betts recorded those.
The Storm will move on to face the Bethany Lutheran Vikings at 1:30 in Mankato. The Vikings were picked to win the UMAC in the conference preseason coaches poll (only eight points ahead of No. 2 St. Scholastica) and have not yet played conference games. Like the Storm, their record is deceiving (2-9) because of the elite competition they've faced.
