MORRIS, Minn. --- Crown College Baseball won their second conference contest over the UM-Morris Cougars on Wednesday evening, following a Tuesday afternoon win at their home park. Originally scheduled Tuesday in Carver after game one, the Storm went to Morris to finish their series against the Cougars due to weather and field conditions at Woody Swanson Field. No matter the location, the Storm squad continued their stellar season as Crown had an incredible offensive performance leading to an 11-7 win behind Kyle Schroedle's two home runs and five RBIs.
The Storm move to 8-2 in conference play, one game behind the University of Northwestern in second place. The Storm will face the Eagles in a doubleheader at their home Carver ballpark this coming Tuesday.
A fun subplot heading into the contest was the Storm career home run record tied between Seth Betts and Kyle Schroedle. Betts took it for himself with his eighth home run of the season in the first inning. However, not to be outdone, Schroedle hit home runs in his second and third at-bats to retake the record for himself.
Schroedle currently is tied for the NCAA Division III lead for home runs with 13 this season with Wittenberg's Jack Hollinshead, a testament to his incredible play. Schroedle and Betts' impressive seasons have the Storm tenth in the nation in home runs.
The scoring started in the first inning when Betts's ball left the park for a 1-0 Storm lead. The game remained there until Kyle Schroedle hit his first home run, scoring first-year Mason Brock and himself in the third inning. Later in the inning, Aaron Clogston singled to score Chad Herrera, Rhys Dewick singled to score Clogston, and Tristan Shoemaker singled to score Dewick. All RBI singles happened with two outs.
Betts hit a sacrifice fly to score Brock and take a 7-0 lead in the fourth. Then Kyle Schroedle hit his second 2RBI home run of the ballgame, scoring Bailey Sarto to up that lead to 9-0. The Cougars broke the shutout in the sixth, but Crown came back with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning. They scored in one of the rarest plays in baseball, the RBI strikeout as Schroedle swung and missed, but because of mishandling by the Cougars' catcher, forced a throw to first and allowing Betts to score.
Crown once again dominated the basepaths with ten steals in the contest. Brock led the team with three steals, Betts and Sarto both had two, and Clogston, Dewick, and Shoemaker all had one.
Starter Nick Schroedle's had a tremendous six-inning three-hit eight-strikeout performance, leaving the game ahead 9-1. After earning Schroedle's earned quality start, Dylan Balfour provided relief. After allowing an early single, Balfour picked the runner off second to maintain control and ended up pitching two innings. His first inning went without an earned run, but then the Cougars strung together some hits to make the score 10-4. After Balfour came in to start the ninth, Bryan Bullock relieved the Balfour and recorded one out, leaving the game up five (11-6) before Storm brought in their high-leverage sidearm reliever Jacob Van Dam to close out the contest, winning 11-7.
The Storm had an impressive defensive performance, highlighted by Betts sprinting back, likely over 100 feet, and making a ridiculous grab helping Balfour keep a runner off first base.
Crown will move on to face the UW-Superior Yellowjackets Saturday on the shore of Lake Superior, looking to improve to 10-2 in conference play.
