DULUTH, Minn. – Following a 7-4 victory over the University of Minnesota-Morris on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 2017 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Postseason Tournament, the Bethany Lutheran baseball team continued action on Friday in the winners bracket against the No. 1 seed St. Scholastica.
The Saints defeated the Vikings 10-1 to advance to the championship game on Saturday. The Vikings then had to beat the University of Wisconsin-Superior in the elimination game during the nightcap. BLC did just that, coming away with the 8-6 victory to advance to the UMAC Championship game for the second time in three years.
GAME ONE vs. St. Scholastica (Article Credit: Sara Eisenhauer, UMAC Office):
The contest featured two of the top UMAC pitchers this season in Martin Alcoverde of the No. 1 Saints and Brandyn Olsen of No. 2 Bethany Lutheran. Unfortunately, the Vikings committed several costly errors early that they couldn't overcome in the loss.
GAME TWO: vs. UW-Superior (Article Credit: Sara Eisenhauer, UMAC Office):
With a shot at the Saints and the conference tournament title on the line, the evening elimination game was sure to be a thriller. After building a lead early, the Vikings managed to get two outs including a strikeout with bases loaded in the top of the ninth to send the Yellowjackets packing.
The Vikings may have committed a series of errors in their opener, but the reverse was true in the nightcap as the Yellowjackets allowed the Vikings three runs on a few misfortunes.
John Brown was hit by pitch as the lead-off and eventually scored on a throwing error.
Walker Linde then singled to center scoring
Trent Saharek and
Kevin Harris who each had hits to reach base.
The Yellowjackets responded immediately in the second when Braeden Barr doubled to send Albertson and Nik Mattson across to make it 3-2. Brown and
Jordan Grams each scored to push the Vikings' lead to three in the bottom of the second. Albertson scored Kyle Bellin in the top of the third for UWS to put the score at 5-3 in favor of the Vikings.
In the bottom of the fourth,
Clay Anderson reached on an error as the first batter and eventually scored on a single from Saharek. Brown added another run to his stat line later in the inning to give the Vikings what felt like a safe 7-3 lead.
Wisconsin-Superior got some momentum back in the fifth as Albertson drove in another run to pull back within two. Barr then doubled down the left field line to plate two runs to make it a 7-6 game and put the pressure on the Vikings to hold. Bethany added another run in the seventh before holding off a late-game surge from the Yellowjackets.
Saharek led the Vikings' attack going 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Linde and Anderson each had two hits.
Logan Nissen came in to pitch relief in the fifth and struck out seven batters including the final of the game to help the Vikings to a win. Barr led the Yellowjackets with three hits and four RBI at the plate.
UP NEXT:
The championship game between No. 1 St. Scholastica and No. 2 Bethany Lutheran is set to start at 1 p.m. Saturday at Wade Stadium. Should Bethany Lutheran win the opener, the second game will take place at approximately 4 p.m.
All tournament information including scores, recaps, team information and more can be found on the
UMAC Baseball Playoffs page. Keep up with all of the tournament action on
Twitter and
Instagram using
#UMACchamp.
To stay current with Vikings athletics this season, continue to visit www.blcvikings.com and follow @BLCvikings on Twitter.
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MEDIA: If you need further information, please feel free to contact Lucas Herd at 507-344-7856 or email lucas.herd@blc.edu.
