Fort Wayne, Ind. — The Bethel University Baseball squad (12-9, 5-4) split two games on the day in Crossroads League play vs. University of Saint Francis (7-14, 2-7) Thursday afternoon on Cougar Field.
GAME 1
The Pilots struck first as Jordan Landkrohn got walked and soon stole second. Thomas Dolan singled and got an RBI single as Landkrohn scored in the top of the second.
Bethel went up 2-0 in the top of the fifth with an Eli Macdonald RBI single, which got Dolan around the bases to score.
USF found some rhythm in the bottom of the sixth with two RBIs, which tied the game 2-2. In the bottom of the eighth, USF earned three more runs off a two-RBI single, and a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Pilots made a strong push at the top of the ninth when Seth Ambrose, Cooper Tolson, and Eli MacDonald all walked, giving Macdonald an RBI. Alex Stout flew out to left field, which let Dolan score (5-4 USF).
The final out for USF came from a Dominic Deisler 6-3 putout to close the game.
Ty Mickiewicz threw seven innings and allowed two runs, five hits, zero walks, and seven strikeouts.
GAME 2
USF struck first in the bottom the first, as they grabbed two runs off a home run from Croxton. They kept pushing as they scored two more in the bottom of the second due to another home run, a passed ball, and an error.
Saint Francis scored again in the bottom of the third, but Bethel matched that run in the top of the fourth from an Eli Macdonald single, which allowed Wiersema to score.
USF continued to dominate, as they scored three more times in the bottom of the fourth. Bethel got another run in the top of the fifth from a double from Wiersema that sent Corbin Greenslade home for an RBI.
After another inning of USF scoring (2), BU was able to grab one more run late in the top of the sixth from an RBI single from Seth Ambrose.
Brad VanOverberghe pitched for three innings and recorded seven hits, eight runs, four strikeouts, two home runs, and zero walks.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Eli Macdonald had two RBIs in game one.
Jeremy Wiersema had three hits in the second game.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Pilots continue Crossroads League play on the road in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Friday, Mar.17, against Saint Francis (Ind.) at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.