Stella Anderson Moye-
This past Sunday, the Gustavus Men’s Baseball team traveled to Collegeville, Minnesota to face off against MIAC competitor Saint John’s University. The Johnnies are fierce competition with a season start of 2-1 within the MIAC, but were no match for the undefeated Gusties. Gustavus boasts a MIAC record of 4-0 so far this season and an overall of 18-4. A total of 29 runs between the two games led to a sweep at St. John’s, demonstrating the excellence of the Gustavus program.
Fans of the Gusties waited to watch this battle kick off in Game One, with a tough scoreless first inning. The Johnnies threw down a run to score, sac blunt, and a throwing error. Gustie Sophomore Joe Burns responded with a triple to center and scored to bring the game back to an equal. Saint Johns did not want to let up, taking the lead back in the bottom with a walk, RBI triple, and RBI double, putting their score up to 3-1. In retaliation, Gustavus rattled off 6 runs from 4 hits and an error. Fifth-year Drake Siens was at the plate and wisely didn’t swing for 4 balls to earn a one-out walk, bringing him to 1st base. Thanks to a massive hit resulting in a triple from Senior Luke Siegle, Siens was able to score and give his team a run. Senior Brady Schmitz hit an infield single to help Siegle score. Junior Sam Schneider and Burns additionally loaded the bases. With runners poised to score, Sophomore Danny Gavin slugged an absolute beauty of a home run that constitutes his 4th one of the season. This brought the score to a 7-3 lead.
The Gusties were still unsatisfied. In the 5th, they added another 2 points from a walk and Schmitz being hit by a pitch. While the Johnnies tried to make up their gap with a home run that resulted in 2 points to bring the score 9-5, it was not enough. The Johnnies couldn’t keep it together; due to command issues of the pitcher, Gustavus scored 4 runs on a single hit and piled on 4 more walks in the inning.
The Gusties geared up and kept piling on points. Sophomore Brayden Kohls hit an RBI double and singles from Fifth-year Chris Knowles and Junior Tomas Nelson all aided in scoring runs. Senior Isaac Becker brought the score to 17-5 with a sac fly. While many Gusties contributed with RBI’s, the game leaders included Gavin’s homer that resulted in 3 runs as well as Kohls (2-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B) and Burns (2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, 3B). The first game of Sunday yielded a 17-6 win.
The second game had fans fired up, and housed yet another slow burn start. Yet again, the first inning went scoreless as fans and players waited in anticipation. The Gusties cut loose in the second, spurting off 5 runs within the second inning. Schmitz opened with a double and was able to score on an error. Another error allowed for Schneider to aid Nelson in scoring. With Gavin, Schneider, and Ross poised to run, Burns brought home a point with a zinger single to get a run from Gavin, marking a 5-0 lead early on.
In the fourth inning, Knowles rocked his fourth homer of the season. This heightened the lead to 6-1. A few straggler points helped the Johnnies inch their way up to 6-3 in the sixth inning. Saint Johns continued to trail more and more behind as Gustavus gained momentum. Gustavus was hit by a few pitches and piled on hits and walks to be able to tally up more runs. The second game of the day closed with another Gustavus win: 12-4.
Siegle had an outstanding game, making history for himself and the program. The game marked his 34th career start on the mound, tying him for second in program history for starts on the mound. After 3 strikeouts in the day alone, he moved up in program history. He is the fourth pitcher in program history to surpass 150 career strikeouts, bringing him to 151 total.
Kohls says that it has been “a team effort up and down the lineup hitting and the pitcher has been awesome.” Looking forward to the rest of the season, he is “feeling really good about how we are playing right now but [he] feels like the best is yet to come from us!”