CARVER, Minn. --- Crown College Baseball won big on Saturday, sweeping the Northland Lumberjacks 19-6 and 12-2, with neither game lasting the nine scheduled innings due to the ten-run mercy rule. Four Storm institutional records were tied or broken during this series. The Storm are now 4-2 in conference play, sitting in third place.
Junior Kyle Schroedle continued to put on a show, blasting three home runs, and now officially is Crown's all-time home run leader with eleven. He also tied the single-game record with two. Senior Bailey Sarto set a record during the second game, with four steals in a game matching Harry Ballentyne's 2016 mark. Lastly, first-year Mason Brock hit two doubles for his ninth and tenth of the season, matching the single-season record set by Gideon Dunn in 2019.
The Storm started with a 7-0 lead in the first contest of the day, and after Northland added two in the top of the third, took three back in the bottom half of the inning. After the Lumberjacks took four runs to make it 10-6 in the fifth inning, the Storm slammed the cracked door shut in the sixth with nine runs to take the game 19-6.
Senior Seth Betts led the offensive production in game one with five RBIs, a home run, and three runs in three at-bats. Schroedle had two home runs, four RBIs, and two runs. Sarto reached all five trips to the plate, with three hits, three RBIs, and three runs along with two walks. Sophomore Gavin Boots picked up the win, allowing six runs in five innings of work. Boots was relieved by Tyler VanCise, who went the remaining two innings and allowed no runs.
In the second contest, Northland started with a 1-0 lead, which they only held until the third Storm batter, Sarto, hit Betts home to knot the game up at one. Crown added three runs in the third inning and didn't relinquish the lead from there, taking the game 12-2 in eight innings.
Senior pitcher Seth Betts picked up his third consecutive win on the mound, going six innings with one earned run and striking out eight. First-year Jacob Van Dam relieved Betts, going the remaining two innings, allowing no base runners, and striking out two.
Offensively, Betts had three hits and four runs in the game. Sarto matched his first game production with three hits, three RBIs, three runs, and a walk in four plate appearances. Sophomore Rhys Dewick and Schroedle both hit home runs in the contest, with Dewick picking up three RBIs and Schroedle picking up two. Between the two games, the Storm picked up an incredible 27 hits.
Crown continues their conference season on Tuesday, heading to Martin Luther for a matchup with the Knights. The Storm recently faced MLC in a non-conference nine-inning game, which they took easily 27-0. Crown will look for a similar result on Tuesday as they continue to chase their first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference championship title.
