NORTHFIELD, Minn. – In its 2021 season opener, the Carleton College baseball team lost 6-4 to Bethel University. Play in game two of the twin bill was halted due to darkness with the Knights trailing 8-6 in the ninth inning.
Due to the coronavirus shutting down last season and Carleton utilizing a campus-wide "lay low" week to begin spring term, the Knights (0-1, 0-1 MIAC) had gone 394 days since they last played a game. Meanwhile, Bethel (9-4, 3-0 MIAC) already had a dozen games in 2021 under its belt.
"It was great to have the team back on the field competing again," said Carleton head coach
Aaron Rushing. "and great to see the effort that the team put forth after a lengthy quarantine period when we were prohibited from practicing. As a team, we put together a quality performance and saw some huge improvements from our returners and great debuts from some freshmen. I'm excited to see how we develop now that we are able to practice and compete on a regular basis."
GAME 1 RECAP
Thanks to a pair of wild pitches, Bethel scored a two-out run in the third inning, and a pair of walks led to two more Royal runs in the fourth. A double play grounder permitted another run in the fifth, and Bethel added its final two runs in the sixth, including a solo home run off the bat of James Woelfel.
Due to the forced week-long layoff, the Knights some rust early as they managed only one hit over the first four innings of the opener. Carleton finally got the bats going and strung together seven hits and pushed across four runs over the final three frames.
In the bottom of the fifth,
Luke Mager (So./Berkely, Calif./Berkely) and
Paul Hinton (Jr./Omaha, Neb./Milard West) had RBI singles before
Jacob Small (Jr./Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) was hit by a pitch to force home another run.
Travis Brown (Sr./St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) doubled and scored on Small's single in the bottom of the seventh, and the Knights had two runners in scoring position before Royals' reliever Bryce DeLay registered the final two outs to secure the victory.
GAME 2 RECAP
Carleton jumped on Bethel starter Marcus Krupke—who entered the day 3-0 in four starts—for three runs in the bottom of the first. Small had a RBI double,
Jacob Smith (Jr./McKinneyville, Calif./McKinneyville) contributed a run-scoring groundout, and
Brayden Stark (Fy./Los Angeles, Calif./The Buckley School) added a sacrifice fly. Smith had two doubles, including one that scored Small with two down in the seventh.
Bethel put runners aboard in every frame, pushing across two in the second and four more in the third. The visitors took advantage of back-to-back walks to begin the seventh inning to earn an insurance run and padded their scoring total thanks to a one-out triple in the ninth.
The bottom of the ninth inning—and extra innings if necessary—will be completed when Carleton visits Bethel later this month. That trip is currently scheduled for April 15.
UP NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS
Carleton hosts Saint Mary's University at Mel Taube Field. The doubleheader was originally scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday but has been tentatively moved up to 1 p.m. on Tuesday in hopes of avoiding wet weather forecasted for later in the day and throughout much the coming days.
