St. Peter, Minn. - The Polars baseball team faced off with the #24 ranked Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties on Saturday in a doubleheader and split losing the first game 11-3 and winning game two 5-4 in extra innings.
The Gusties scored 4 unanswered runs in the first few innings until Crown pushed across their first run of the day in the top of the 5th inning when
Easton McKenzie knocked in
William Hellard on an RBI groundout. Gustavus ran away with the contest outscoring the Polars 7-2 to close out the contest.
Brett Torbeck took the loss with 4 innings pitched and 2 earned runs allowed.
Elijah Rambo and
Dylan Keelan both pitched in the game. Defensively Crown struggled as they totaled 5 errors in game one.
Bryan Gerbers totaled 2 hits in 4 at bats as the Polars totaled 6 hits as a team.
Mitchell Cox got the start on the mound and got into some trouble early, but only allowed one run to score in the top of the first inning. An
Ashton Long home run in the top of the 4th inning tied the score at 1-1. The Polars fell behind after a Gustavus home run but bounced back in the 6th inning taking the 3-2 lead after a
Drew Girtz RBI single and a wild pitch that allowed
Tyler Bloom to score. Gustavus battled right back taking the 4-3 lead going into the 9th inning.
Caleb Yowell singled to start the top of the 9th inning and after a fielder's choice
Keegan Eastman came up clutch hitting a double to center field scoring
Tyler Olson and tying the game at 4-4.
Quentin Holmes held the Gusties at bay in the bottom half of the 9th.
Kyler Thruston started the 10th with a hit by pitch and a stolen base. In scoring position the Gustie pitcher threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt allowing
Kyler Thruston to score. Crown held on to win 5-4.
Tyler Bloom,
Ashton Long, and Eastman all had two hits in the game. The trio of
Mitchell Cox, Phillipp Jackson, and
Quentin Holmes combined to alow just 4 earned runs with Holmes earning the win after three innings of allowing no hits.
Crown moves to 6-10 on the season and will next take on North Central for a three game UMAC series at home starting on Friday, March 28th at 3pm.
