ST. PETER, Minn. – With their backs against the wall, the Carleton College baseball team won Game 2 of its MIAC Playoff Qualifier Round with No. 24-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College by an 8-3 tally behind a stellar outing from senior
Blake Anderson (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria). After forcing the winner-takes-all finale, the Knights season came to an end with a 6-2 defeat in Game 3.
The Knights (7-23 overall) had dropped the opener of the three-game series on Friday, falling 8-2 in Northfield, setting the stage for Saturday's dramatics. Whichever team won two (or more) of the three games would advance to the MIAC Playoffs.
"It was a great day for some exciting baseball, and the day didn't disappoint," said Carleton head coach
Aaron Rushing. "The first game was a ton of fun as the guys played with a level of focus and enthusiasm that was warranted with the season on the line. To beat a ranked Gustavus team on the road under those conditions is a tribute to the mentality that we've had all year: keep getting better. Blake's outing on the mound was one of the top performances I've seen in 16 years at Carleton.
"Unfortunately we weren't able to pull it out in the final game, but the team—and especially the seniors—deserves a lot of praise for their efforts over the past year."
GAME 2 RECAP
Anderson turned in arguably the best outing of his collegiate career, limiting a Gustavus (26-5 overall) squad that entered the day hitting .325 as a team to only five hits over 7.0 innings of one-run ball. He struck out four and walked two. Anderson pitched out of mini-jams in the second, third, and fourth innings and kept the Gusties off the scoreboard until the seventh inning.
Carleton broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth.
Jonathan Singleton (So./San Martin, Calif./Live Oak) singled, advanced via a sacrifice bunt and a flyout, and scored on
Sam Schur's (Jr./Calabasas, Calif./Viewpoint) single to left field.
The Knights gave themselves some breathing room with a three-run sixth inning.
Paul Hinton (Jr./Omaha, Neb./Millard West) led off with a double, and two outs later he scored on
Vince Cone's (Jr./New York, N.Y./Trinity School NYC) single to right-center. Singleton followed with a RBI double, and
Travis Brown (Sr./St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) plated the next run with a sharp single to centerfield.
After Gustavus scored its first run in the bottom of the seventh, the Knights widened the margin with a four-run top of the eighth.
Aaron Berkowitz (So./Leawood, Kan./Pembroke Hill School) doubled and scored on a passed ball. Singleton and Brown walked ahead of
James Sassi's (Jr./Stamford, Conn./Brunswick School) two-run double off the left-field wall.
Jacob Smith (Jr./McKinleyville, Calif./McKinleyville) capped Carleton's scoring with a two-out RBI single.
The hosts managed two unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth, but it was a case of too little, too late.
Singleton, Sassi, Schur, Smith, and Hinton each had two hits as the Knights out-hit Gustavus 13-7.
GAME 3 RECAP
Gustavus took the early lead with a run in the bottom of the first, but Carleton knotted the score at 1-1 in the fourth. Schur and Hinton singled, and
Cayten Gardner (Jr./Claremont, Calif./Claremont) hit a sacrifice fly.
The Gusties added a solo home run in the fifth and tacked on three more tallies in the sixth.
Carleton pulled to within 5-2 during the top of the eighth inning.
Jacob Small (Jr./Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) smacked a pinch-hit double. A single by Sassi put runners on the corners, and Schur had a RBI groundout.
The Gusties tacked on an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth to wrap up the scoring. Four of the six Gustavus' runs in this one came with two out.
Brown took the loss, yielding three runs over 5.1 innings. Six different players had hits for the Knights.
Carleton had limited the Gusties' top hitter Bryce Novak to a 1-for-9 showing in the first two games, but he broke through in the finale, going 4-for-5 with three RBI.
