NORTHFIELD, Minn. --- Crown College Baseball defeated the Carleton Knights 7-6 in a four-hour 12 inning contest on Tuesday evening to end their regular season. The Storm enter the postseason 19-21, playing in a remarkable forty games, the maximum allowed by the NCAA. An warm spring allowed the Storm to begin outdoor games early, allowing them to reach this total. Their win total of 19 is a new NCAA-era school record, despite competing with the most challenging schedule they've ever played.
The Storm needed everyone to help them defeat Carleton on a beautiful day in Northfield. In the clutch, it became clear that this wasn't going to be the game where Seth Betts or Kyle Schroedle was the hero, as it seems they often are (and despite their fantastic play during this game). This is the Tristan Shoemaker show. The sophomore outfielder recorded hits in the ninth, eleventh, and twelfth innings, and his play directly led to a Storm run on all three occasions. In the ninth, after getting on with a single, he scored himself. Mason Brock hit into a fielder's choice in the eleventh, exchanging himself for Shoemaker after he doubled (and Brock scored the go-ahead run). In the twelfth, Shoemaker hit a single to score Bailey Sarto, the game-winning hit.
The game was back and fourth the entire contest. Chad Herrera started the Storm scoring in the first inning, hitting a single to score both Rhys Dewick and Betts. Carleton came back with two runs in the bottom of the first and gained a 3-2 lead in the fifth. Then in the sixth inning, Tristan Shoemaker walked to score Dewick to tie the game. The Knights retook the lead 4-3 in the top of the seventh before Schroedle scored Shoemaker on his 33rd extra-base hit of the season for his 52nd RBI (both school records) to tie up the game 4-4. In the eleventh inning, Betts scored Mason Brock on a single (after first hitting Brock attempting to steal home with a foul ball in a scary moment for the Storm) and scored himself after stealing third and forcing a bad throw. The Knights knotted up the game in the bottom part of the inning before Shoemaker's game-winning hit gave the Storm another chance to close the game out.
The Storm's pitching approach for the contest was to tune up their regular pitchers for a playoff run without spending too much energy. First-year Jacob Van Dam started the match, going two innings and allowing two runs. Junior Dylan Balfour relieved Van Dam, going one inning without an earned run. Then Jacob Crowley (pictured above) pitched a stellar inning of relief, striking out two and not allowing a baserunner. Gavin Boots followed Crowley, and an error allowed a run to score during his two outs and keeping the inning alive. Eric Newman, the Storm ace, finished the inning and went the next two allowing one earned run and striking out six out of his seven outs. Junior Kyle Schroedle, making his first appearance on the mound since March 22, went the next two innings without a run scoring. Finishing off the game for the Storm was senior Seth Betts, who only allowed one hit but did allow two earned in the final three innings. Betts earned his fifth win this season, matching Newman's total to tie the season record that both have set this season.
The Storm will now advance to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Championship Tournament with an 11-5 conference record. They will face the UW-Superior Yellowjackets at Northwestern in Roseville at 1 pm on Thursday, May 20, in the first contest of the UMAC Playoffs. The winner of the UMAC Playoffs will receive an automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament.
