Kieran Ripken – Staff Writer
The Gustavus baseball team hosted Central Iowa for a doubleheader last Saturday and continued their recent dominance, sweeping their non-conference opponent with scores of 13-6 and 10-0. Coming into the game, the Gusties were 10-1 in their last eleven games. With the pair of wins, the Gusties improved to 11-0 at home on the season.
The weather was far from ideal during each game with frequent wind gusts, but the team’s familiarity and comfort at home gave the Gusties the confidence to overcome and thrive.
“We adapted to the environment where we are with the wind. Some teams struggle with the wind, but that is a benefit in our favor,” Senior Bryce Novak said.
“We like being at the field that we know and practice on every day and we play on every day. We like having that feeling of being comfortable,” Senior Drake Siens said.
In the first game, the Gusties got off to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run blast from All-American Senior Jack Hanson and an RBI double from Senior Logan Bjorkman.
“Getting runs in the first inning definitely helps energy levels throughout the game… It was big for creating energy and it also created confidence for me getting a good barrel on that ball,” Hanson said.
Central responded with two runs of their own in the top of the second inning, but the Gusties kept the momentum rolling in the bottom of the second. Senior Luke Johnson led off with a triple and Junior Mitch Casperson sent his teammate home with an RBI groundout. Novak and Senior Gavin Baker each singled and were brought home by a double from Siens to build a commanding 6-2 lead.
Central scored another run in the third, but yet again the Gusties answered with an RBI from Senior Nick Azar, scoring Junior Chris Knowles. In the sixth inning, the Gusties tacked on three more runs. Novak, fresh off winning MIAC Player of the Week, was the first Gustie to get on base with a single and was brought home on a Hanson double to center. Baker walked and Siens launched another double to center, bringing home Hanson and Baker. In the seventh, Central tallied their fourth run of the game. However, the Gusties’ hot bats continued with RBIs from Hanson, Baker, and Siens to build a 13-4 lead.
“Our team did a really good job of staying up-tempo the whole game… and wanting to keep scoring more and more,” said Hanson.
Senior Luke Siegle, who leads the MIAC in wins with five, earned the start for the Gusties. Senior Jayce Luna earned the win with two strikeouts in 1.2 innings of relief and First-year Jackson Thielen tossed 3.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
“[I planned to] attack early with the fastball. My off-speed felt good too, so I threw those for strikes early to establish the [strike] zone and build off that,” said Thielen.
The Gusties allowed a run in each of the final innings, but Central’s comeback bid fell short as Gustavus won 13-6.
In the second game of the day, the Gusties continued their excellence at the plate with another quick start from familiar faces. In the first inning, with Novak and Hanson on base, Baker sent a three-run shot over the right field fence for his MIAC-leading seventh home run of the season. Johnson and Azar each tallied an RBI to give the Gusties a 5-0 lead. Gustavus also received some assistance from the Central shortstop, who committed three costly errors that put Gustavus runners in scoring position.
In the second inning, Novak scored again on a wild pitch. There was an absence of scoring until the fifth inning when the Gusties blew the game open further with three more runs. First-years Taylor Klein and Tomas Nelson scored on a double by Johnson, who then later scored on a single from Novak. The tenth and final run of the game was scored by Klein in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by First-year Sam Knowles.
“We did a good job of having team at-bats. We placed a priority on moving guys over and scoring them over trying to get hits for ourselves,” said Siens.
On the mound, Casperson got the start and struck out two. First-year Cody Johnson took over in the second inning and shined in his first collegiate pitching appearance, holding Central scoreless through three innings to earn the win. Senior Damon Rademacher and Sophomores Sam Baker and Brevin Goetz held Central scoreless through the remainder of the game, giving the team a combined shutout in the 10-0 win.
The Gusties will travel to Winona for a doubleheader against Saint Mary’s College next Saturday.