ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Kiefer Lord (So./San Carlos, Calif./Menlo School) twirled another gem, this one a 1-hit shutout of MIAC-leading Bethel University as the Carleton College baseball team earned a split on Wednesday. The Knights took the opener 3-0 before falling in game two by a 15-3 (7 inn.) tally.
 
Game 1 Recap
In a matchup of two of the top pitchers in the MIAC, Lord bested Bethel ace Max Sutter.
 
The Carleton righthander improved to 4-0 on the year as he yielded only the one hit—a two-out double in the second inning—while striking out eight batters and not issuing a walk. Meanwhile, the Carleton offense touched Sutter—who is second among MIAC players with a 1.71 ERA this season—for a season-high eight hits while handing the Bethel righty his first loss of the season.
 
Lord's fourth complete-game effort of the year and his third shutout extended his scoreless inning streak to 15.0 frames and lowered his ERA to 1.67, pushing him in front of Sutter for tops among MIAC players.
 
The Knights (8-16, 5-7 MIAC) had runners on base in every inning against Sutter and finally broke the scoreless deadlock with a rally in the fifth inning.
 
Asher Stolberg (Fy./Sherman Oaks, Calif./Campbell Hall) reached on a two-out error, and Jacob Small (Sr./Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) made the Royals pay with a triple to centerfield. Aaron Rice (Fy./Evergreen, Colo./Colorado Academy) drew a walk, and Paul Hinton (Sr./Omaha, Neb./Millard West) singled home Small to make the score 2-0.
 
Small tacked on an insurance run with his first collegiate home run, a solo shot to begin the top of the seventh inning.
 
Bethel (25-7, 11-3 MIAC) managed only two baserunners, with both of those coming in the second inning. After the first batter of the inning reached on an error, Lord induced an around-the-horn double play. Keenan Hodgkin followed with the lone Royal hit, and Lord retired the final 16 batters he faced.
 
Lord's strikeout total actually matched his lowest in a start this season, but his overall performance is especially impressive given that Bethel is hitting .340 as a team this season and is receiving votes in the latest D3baseball.com top-25 poll.
 
Hinton and Cayten Gardner (Sr./Claremont, Calif./Claremont) also had two-hit games.
 
Game 2 Recap
Solo home runs by Jacob Smith (Sr./McKinleyville, Calif./McKinleyville), Aaron Berkowitz (Jr./Kansas City, Mo./Pembroke Hill School), and Sam Schur (Sr./Calabasas, Calif./Viewpoint) accounted for all of Carleton's runs. This was the Knights' first multi-homer game since going deep twice at St. Olaf on April 12, 2016 and the team's first three-dinger contest since belting three roundtrippers against Hamline on April 22, 2015.
 
Meanwhile, the Bethel bats that Lord put to sleep in game one, awoke with a vengeance, as the hosts collected 18 hits, including a trio of long balls.
 
Smith started the scoring in the second inning with his second home run of the season—and fourth of his career. That run stood up until the Royals pushed across seven runs in the fourth inning and six more the following frame.
 
Berkowitz went deep for the second time four days to begin the top of the fifth inning, and Schur's first career big fly started the top of the sixth.
 
Quinn Brannan (Fy./Seattle, Wash./Lakeside) was Carleton's most effective hurler. He got the starting nod on a bullpen day and tossed 2.0 scoreless frames of 1-hit ball.
 
Berkowitz and Steve Antrim (So./Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) had two hits apiece to pace the Knights.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton hosts Hamline University for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader on Friday, April 29. Those games were originally scheduled for the following afternoon but were moved up due to the forecast calling for rainy weather.
 
Most Strikeouts (single-season) in recorded team history
80 – Tony LePage – 2003
71 – Tony LePage – 2002
69 – Kiefer Lord – 2022
59 – Adam Bischoff – 1995
57 – Jamie Loch – 1994