NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Ray Yong (Sr./Elmhurst, Ill./York) was 4-for-4 with four runs scored and three RBI as the Carleton College baseball team pulled away visiting University of Minnesota-Morris for a 19-9 non-conference triumph on Monday. The Knights have now won eight of their last ten games.
It is cliché to say that a team got contributions up and down the lineup. In Monday’s case that was truly the reality as every member of Carleton’s starting nine finished with a multi-hit game and contributed at least one RBI. When the game totals were tallied, the Knights (17-9) had pounded out 23 hits—11 of them going for extra-base hits—en route to a season-best run total.
The Cougars (12-10) actually led 3-1 in the third inning when Jake Schmitz hit his first home run of the season, a three-run shot over the left-centerfield wall.
Carleton responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by Nolan Baker’s (Jr./Appleton, Wis./Appleton North) three-run double. The Knights tacked on six more tallies in the fourth, two of them scampering home on Yong’s base hit through the right side and another on Hikaru Mizuno’s (So./Tigard, Ore./Tigard) second double of the inning. Mizuno finished the day 3-for-5 with three RBI.
Minnesota got two unearned runs back in the top of the fifth, only to see Carleton counter with doubles by Yong, Baker, and Jack Atterberry (Fy./Chatham, Ill./Glenwood) during a three-run rally in the bottom of the inning.
Another three-run home run for the Cougars in the top of the seventh was immediately offset by the Knights five runs in the bottom of the frame, making the score 19-9 and invoking the agreed upon 10-run mercy rule.
Luke Curtis (Fy./Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) got the starting assignment for Carleton, but the southpaw was not eligible for the win because he only pitched the front 3.0 innings for the Knights. That opened the door for reliever Jackson Tears (Sr./Trabuco Canyon, Calif./JSerra) to pick up the victory, leveling his season mark at 1-1 following a perfect inning of relief.
Carleton puts its three-game win streak on the line when the Knights return to MIAC play and visit Hamline University for a 2:30 p.m. twin bill on Tuesday, April 22.
