The University of Minnesota Crookston baseball team remained unbeaten in conference play sweeping a doubleheader over Concordia-St. Paul in a 5-4 and 14-2 victories in Northen Sun Conference games played on an artificial turf field in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
GAME ONE –
Minnesota Crookston’s bats got off to a quick start to open up the series with the Golden Bears. In the top of the second inning, Brock Reller (Soph., Grand Forks, ND) blasted a solo home run over the centerfield fence giving UMC a 1-0 lead. In the fourth inning, Ben Thoma (Soph., Clearbrook) scored from third base on a wild pitch before Bryce Jorgenson (Jr., Thunder Bay, Ontario) was hit by a pitch with the base loaded allowing Travis Conoryea (Soph., Inver Grove Heights) to score giving the Golden Eagles to take a 3-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. Concordia-St. Paul took one run back in the bottom of the fourth inning pulling within 3-1. Reed Hjelle (Sr., East Grand Forks) homered to left field putting UMC in front 4-1 in the fifth inning before CSP used an RBI triple to cut their deficit down to 4-2 after five innings of play. A sacrifice fly from Concordia-St. Paul trimmed UMC’s lead down to 4-3 heading into the final inning with UMC clinging to a one-run lead. Travis Conoryea singled through the left side of the infield in the seventh inning to score Ben Thoma giving the Golden Eagles an insurance run and a 5-3 lead. That run would come in handy as Concordia-St. Paul scored a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull within 5-4. Dalton Grose (Soph., Waterville) closed the door on the Golden Bears with three strikeouts in the seventh inning to secure Crookston’s fourth straight win to open up NSIC play with a 5-4 victory over Concordia-St. Paul in game one of the doubleheader.
| G1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| UMC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| CSP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Zach Rustad – UMC | 6.0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Dalton Grose – UMC | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
For UMC
Travis Conoryea – 3-4, HR, 1 RBI, 1 run
GAME TWO – As he did in the first game, Brock Reller opened up the scoring with his second home run of the day giving Minnesota Crookston a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Concordia-St. Paul answered with an RBI double in the bottom half of the inning cutting CSP’s deficit down to 2-1. Reed Hjelle delivered UMC the lead when he sent a two-run shot over the left field fence giving the Golden Eagles a 4-1 lead in the third inning. The Golden Bears clawed one run back on a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning to pull within 4-2, but Jayden Grover (Jr., Cooperstown, ND) settled on the mound and would shut down Concordia-St. Paul the rest of his outing. Reed Hjelle added a third RBI to his day in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly into left field plating Bryce Jorgenson. Brock Reller double down the rightfield line to continue the inning scoring Landyn Swenson (Jr., Devils Lake, ND) while boosting Minnesota Crookston’s lead to 5-2. Travis Conoryea continued the inning with a single up the middle plating Reller and giving the Golden Eagles a 6-2 lead after five innings. Bryce Jorgenson singled through the left side of the infield in the sixth inning allowing Bobby Chu (Jr., Redwood City, CA) and Scott Finberg (Jr., Stillwater) to scored as Minnesota Crookston lead grew to 8-2 in the sixth inning. The offensive onslaught continued in the inning when Reed Hjelle muscled a two-run homer out to left-center field pushing the Golden Eagles in front 10-2 after six innings. UMC continued to swing the hot bat in the seventh inning when Scott Finberg doubled to left field plating two more runs as the Golden Eagles’ lead grew to 12-2. Mason Ruhlman (Jr., Algonac, MI) hit a sacrifice fly into left field allowing Finberg to score from third base pushing UMC’s advantage to 13-2 before a Bryce Jorgenson double plated Bobby Chu giving Minnesota Crookston a 14-2 advantage as UMC cruised to a run-rule victory of 14-2 in just seven innings to complete the doubleheader sweep.
The Golden Eagles improve to 12-7 overall and 5-0 in NSIC play. Minnesota Crookston returns to the diamond on Monday to wrap up their three-game series against Concordia-St. Paul at 3:30 p.m. Concordia-St. Paul falls to 11-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
| G2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| UMC | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 13 | 0 |
| CSP | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Jayden Grover – UMC | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Conner Richardson – UMC | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
For UMC
Reed Hjelle – 2-4, 2 HRs, 3 RBIs, 2 runs
Brock Reller – 2-3, 3 RBIs, 2 runs, HR
Scott Finberg – 3-4, 2 RBIs, 2 runs
Bryce Jorgenson – 2-4, 2 RBIs, 2 runs
