Huskies blast four homers, lose slugfest to William Jewell in opener

Sunday, March 7

Fort Scott, KS

12:00 p.m.

St. Cloud State

0-1

William Jewell College (Mo.)

1-1

William Jewell

St. Cloud State

Caleb Marquez, Kyle Rodriguez and Paul Steffensen each launched their first Huskies home runs

Huskies blast four homers, lose slugfest to William Jewell in opener

3/7/2021 11:05:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

St. Cloud State Baseball (0-1, 0-0 NSIC) belted four home runs and pounded out 12 hits but fell in an 18-14 offensive showdown to William Jewell (1-1, 0-0 GLVC) in Sunday's afternoon 2021 season opener. Paul Steffensen (1-3, BB, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI), Jake Shusterich (1-5, R, HR, SF, 4 RBI), Caleb Marquez (2-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and Kyle Rodriguez (1-4, HBP, R, HR, RBI) each homered in the Huskies' loss.

The Huskies opened the scoring in the home half of the first as John Nett (1-3, 3 BB, 4 R, 3 SB) poked a leadoff single up the middle and promptly stole second. Max Gamm (2-5, BB, 2 R, RBI, 3 SB) drew a walk, then the pair each moved up 90 feet on a double steal. One batter later, Shusterich lifted a sacrifice fly to left, bringing home Nett for the season's opening run.

Following a pair of crooked-number innings that saw William Jewell take an 11-2 lead through two-and-a-half, Rodriguez led off the bottom of the third with a solo jack to left. Nett walked, Gamm reached base on an error then an out later Shusterich blasted a three-run home run. Following a flyout, Matt Quade (2-3, 2 BB, R) singled to center and Drew Bulson (1-4, BB, R, 2B, RBI) drew a walk. Reid Conlee (1-1, RBI) entered as a pinch hitter and laced a single to center, scoring Quade. As Conlee scampered to second on the throw, the Cardinals catcher fired the ball into center field, allowing Bulson to cross home and make it an 11-7 game.

Down 13-7 in the bottom of the fourth, Steffensen pinch hit and launched a two-run home run in his first Huskies plate appearance. William Jewell would add a run in the fifth and six to extend their lead to six, 15-9. Nett led off the sixth with a walk, advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw then scored on a Gamm single. Steffensen drew a walk after Gamm stole second, then the latter made a brilliant baserunning move to catch the William Jewell catcher off guard on a wild pitch, racing around third to score on the play. Marquez capped off the inning with a towering two-run moonshot to dead center, trimming the deficit to 15-13.

St. Cloud State would tally their 14th and final run in the 8th inning on a Drew Bulson RBI double lasered down the right field line.

Jack Habeck threw well for SCSU in relief, covering a career-high 4.0 innings and punching out a career-best four while surrendering just three earned on five hits and a pair of walks.