MINNEAPOLIS - St. Norbert College opened its 2021 season with a doubleheader sweep of Crown College by scores of 9-1 and 13-11 in a pair of non-conference games at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Three St. Norbert pitchers combined to hold Crown to two hits in the opener.
Tommy Maher struck out seven in 4 1/3 innings pitched to get the win, allowing one run on two hits.
Noah Beilfuss had 2/3 of an inning of scoreless relief, while
Sam Fonder finished up with three strikeouts in two innings.
St. Norbert got three runs in the top of the first in the opener, with
Christian Jack registering an RBI double and
Peyton Jack following with a two-run double. The Green Knights added two runs in the second inning on a
Jack Maastricht single and a
Caden Uhlenbrauck groundout. Crown scored a run in the bottom of the second to get to within 5-1.
Sebastien Dubois had a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning, while a
Christian Jack sacrifce fly, a
Peyton Jack double and
Keagan McCarthy single were responsible for three runs in the seventh inning.
Peyton Jack was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, while
Christian Jack was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Maastricht was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
St. Norbert rallied in a wild nightcap, with Crown scoring five runs in the top of the first before the Green Knights answered with six runs in their half of the frame.
Jacob Rajkovich and
Myles Cruz had two-run singles to key the response. Crown tied the game with a run in the top of the third, but the Green Knights scored three times in the bottom of the inning on Cruz's bases-clearing triple.
Crown scored single runs in the fourth and fifth to get to within 9-8, but St. Norbert answered with two runs in the fifth on a
Lucas Reynolds single and Maastricht sacrifice fly. The Green Knights got two valuable insurance runs in the sixth inning when McCarthy was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and
Adam Cootway scored on a passed ball. Crown would score three times in the seventh and had the potential tying run at the plate when the game ended.
Rajkovich was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs to lead St. Norbert, which had eight hits. Cootway also scored three runs.
Nick Brauer was credited the win with 1 2/3 innings of relief.
