St. Ben’s Splits To Earn Share Of MIAC Title In Sat. Sports Recap

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

-- St. Ben’s earned a share of the MIAC title by splitting their doubleheader with Bethel. Game 1 was a pitchers' duel. After 4 shutout innings by both sides, Bethel got on the board with an Abby Otterness single to left field driving in Autumn Earney for a 1-0 lead. That was all the scoring for the game and Bethel hung on for the 1-0 win. St. Ben’s Ellie Peterson threw a complete game giving up the 1 run and striking out 7. Runs proved hard to find in game 2 as well. St. Ben’s grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 4^th on a Sammy Muetzel Sac. Fly to center. Bethel wasted no time in tying the game scoring a run in the 5^th. The Bennies captured the lead with an HR by Olivia Tautges in the 6^th, which ended up being the game-winner as St. Ben’s took game 2 by a 2-1 final. The Bennies received more stellar pitching in game two from winner Olivia Wallace with 6 innings pitched giving up an unearned run. Peterson threw 1 inning of scoreless relief for the save. The Bennies finished the regular season with a 23-16 mark.

--The University of Minnesota fell to Nebraska on Saturday in game 2 of their 3-game series. Down 1-0 the Gophers took the lead on a 2-run HR by Sydney Strelow in the bottom of the 1^st and then went up 3-1 with an RBI double by Jess Oakland in the 3^rd. However, the Cornhuskers scored 7 unanswered runs,  as the Gophers offense went dry, and took the game 8-3. Macy Richardson took the loss giving up 4 earned runs on 8 hits in five innings with 5 strikeouts. The two teams will wrap up the weekend series on Sunday.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

--St. Cloud State wrapped up the regular season with a weekend sweep of Bemidji State. The Huskies took the lead in Saturday’s game in the 2^nd inning with an unearned run, they then scored again on a groundout, and Drew Beier tripled and Cal James doubled to score two more giving them a 4-0 lead.  Bemidji claimed the lead by scoring in the 4^th and 5^th inning taking the 5-4 lead after 5. St. Cloud reclaimed the lead in the 6^th scoring 6 times with the big blow being a 3-run HR by James. The Huskies added two more in the 7^th and two in the 8^th for the final 14-5 margin. SCSU finishes the regular season with a 28-11 record, tying for 2^nd most wins in school history. The record is 31 wins by the 2015 team.

-- St. John’s closed out their regular season with a doubleheader split with St. Olaf on Saturday. Game 1 was a low-scoring affair. St. Olaf took the 1-0 lead in the top of the 5^th on a single to right center by Matthew Oberlander.  The Johnnies answered in the bottom of the inning with a run of their own on a single to center by Blake Mellgren.  St. Olaf retook the lead in the top of the 6^th on an RBI double by Joey Glampe which would prove to be the game-winner. Conner Hartley took the loss but had a strong performance throwing 6 innings giving up just 2 earned runs, and striking out 4. In game 2, the Johnnies got on the board first with 2 runs in the 1^st inning on a line out by Jack Schleper, and a single to right by Owen Best.  St. Olaf tied the game in the 2^nd only to see  St. John’s grab the lead back in the bottom of the inning on a double to right center by Owen Dauk.  St. Olaf went up 4-3 after scoring a single run in the 3^rd and 4^th innings.  The Johnnies reclaimed the lead for good in the bottom of the 7^th when Best doubled down the right field line scoring Joe Becker and then got the game-winner on a ground out by Jordan Amundson for the 5-4 win.  SJU finishes the regular season with a 23-14 overall record.

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--The Gophers lost game 2 of their weekend series with the University of Nebraska by a 7-3 score.  The game was close early on and was tied 1-1 entering the 6^th. The Cornhuskers took a 2-1 lead on a Sac. Fly, and then got 4 more in the 8^th for a commanding 6-1 lead. Nebraska added an insurance run in the 9^th to be up 7-1 entering the bottom of the inning for the Gophers. Minnesota tried to come back scoring on a wild pitch, and getting two more on a 2-run HR by Brady Counsell to cut the lead to 7-3 before Nebraska pitching shut them down to get the 7-3 win.  The two teams wrap up their series on Sunday.

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