Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Hamline 8, Stout 4 |
Hamline 6, Stout 5 |
Photo Gallery
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (February 26, 2013) - Both games were competitive throughout, but Stout's early season rust showed as they dropped a pair of decisions to Bethel University, Tuesday night at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.
Bethel won the first game, 8-4, before winning the second game, 6-5, in the bottom of the seventh inning.
A two-out error in the first game allowed four Bethel runs to score and 10 walks by Blue Devil pitchers spelled doom for Stout in the second contest.
In the first game,
Santiago Morales (Sr, West St. Paul, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with a home run and two stolen bases but a few key mistakes plagued the Blue Devils (0-2) as the Royals (5-1) earned a comeback victory to take game one of the doubleheader.
Morales got things going right away for the Blue Devils, sending the first pitch he saw straight back up the middle for a leadoff single to start the first inning. Morales stole second and, after a single by
Mitch LaVelle (Fr, Chippewa Falls), scored on an infield single by
Matt Guida (Sr, Hawley, Minn.). Guida promptly scored on an error to give Stout a 2-0 lead after one inning.
It was again Morales who provided the spark in the second inning as he belted a line drive to the right-center field fence and rounded the bases for an inside-the-park homerun to increase Stout's lead to three.
The Royals scored a run on a passed ball in the top of the fourth, but really started doing their damage in the top of the fifth. After Stout's starting pitcher
Brad Kohn (Sr, St. Charles, Minn.) exited the game after four innings, Bethel scored three runs, the first two on a Matt Rowley bases-clearing triple.
After
Charlie Meyer (So, Janesville) drove in a game-tying run in the bottom of the fifth, Bethel took advantage of a costly two-out Blue Devil error in the top of the sixth to make it the final score of 8-4.
Kohn finished four complete innings without allowing an earned run. He struck out five batters and allowed just two hits.
Adam Widder (So, Wauwatosa) was saddled with the loss, although all his runs were unearned.
In the second game, which didn't begin until after midnight, Bethel got off to the first lead with a first-inning unearned run. Stout was quick to respond, however, with a run in the top of the second when
Jackson Hallahan (Jr, Lester Prairie, Minn.) drove in Meyer with an RBI single.
Stout then grabbed their first lead of the game in the fourth inning when back-to-back doubles by Meyer and
Chris Sill (Sr, Wabasha) produced their second run.
Stout got into a bit of a jam in the bottom of the fifth when the Royals loaded the bases with no outs. A pair of RBI walks by cousins Mike and Luke Schultz gave Bethel a 3-2 lead, and a two-RBI single by pinch hitter Jesse Nickols increased the lead to 5-2.
Needing three runs in the top of the seventh to extend the game, Stout opened the inning with three straight hits, the third of which scored
Kasey Kruse (So, Boyceville), who led off the inning with a pinch-hit single. Meyer loaded the bases with a walk, and Sill drove in Morales with a sacrifice fly.
Brett Vavra (So, Chippewa Falls) drove in LaVelle with a single to tie the game at five.
The Royals, however, pieced together a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the seventh, and won the game on a walk-off hit by pitch.
Stout returns to the Metrodome, Monday, Mar. 4, when they play a doubleheader with Hamline University starting at 4:30 p.m.
