St. Cloud State
2-1
Southwest Baptist
0-3
18 hits, brilliant bullpen fuel (RV) Huskies 15-5 romp over Southwest Baptist
2/4/2023 9:00:00 PM | Baseball
Five Huskies provide multi-hit games as St. Cloud State rolls to run-rule win
Southwest Baptist struck first, plating three in the first before the Huskies handed the ball to Eli Emerson with two away and a runner on third. Emerson opened his outing with a strikeout to get SCSU out of the inning and proceeded to retire 10 of 12 batters faced, firing 3.1 scoreless with five strikeouts. The senior allowed just two hits and walked none, keeping the Bearcats at three as SCSU gained the lead in the second to earn Emerson his first collegiate win.
The Huskies began chipping away in the home half of the first as Bulson blasted a two-run double to left, plating both John Nett (2-for-4, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI) and Sam Riola (0-for-2, 2 HBP, 2 R, SB). Emerson put up a zero in the second to keep it a one-run game. Bevacqua laced a triple into right-center, scoring one batter later on a Brayden Jacobson (0-for-0, SF, RBI) sacrifice fly sent out to right. Mitchell Gumbko (0-for-0, BB, R) followed with a walk, later flying all the way home from first as Wallat ripped a two-out RBI double to right.
Just as they had on Opening Day, St. Cloud State used another crooked number to put the game out of reach – this time in the fourth as the club plated eight runs on seven hits capped off by a three-run homer off the bat of Nett. Payton VanBeck took over for Emerson and cruised through 2.0 scoreless innings – retiring six of seven with five strikeouts, walking none.
SCSU added three more in the sixth courtesy of a Mason Diaz (0-for-0, SF, RBI) sacrifice fly, a Sawyer Smith (2-for-5, 2 R, 3B, 2 RBI) RBI triple and a Ben Clapp (1-for-1, RBI) run-scoring single. Southwest Baptist plated a pair in the seventh but Smith finished things off to secure the run rule win.
Notables
- Drew Bulson went 4-for-4 with a run scored, a double and two RBI
- Garrett Bevacqua reached four times, going 3-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored, a double, a triple and plating one
- Tate Wallat cracked two doubles while going 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI
- John Nett went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, his second home run of the season and three RBI
- Sawyer Smith went 2-for-5 with two runs scored, a triple and two RBI
- Drew Beier added a two-run triple while going 1-for-4
- Eli Emerson earned his first Huskies win with 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, striking out five and allowing just two hits while walking none
- Payton VanBeck retired six of seven in his SCSU debut while striking out five
The Huskies close out Opening Weekend with an 11:00 a.m. CT start against Missouri Southern State on Sunday morning at Warren Turner Field.
For all the latest on St. Cloud State Baseball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Emerson, Eli (1-0)
L: R Garcia (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Hagenhoff, D 1 ; Skinner, Z 1 ; K Lewis 2 ; Smock, E 1 ; Daulton, B 1
3B: T Mungin 1
RBI: T Mungin 1 ; Skinner, Z 2 ; Smock, E 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hagenhoff, D 1 ; T Mungin 2 ; K Lewis 1 ; Daulton, B 1
Batting:
2B: Navratil, Ethan 1 ; Wallat, Tate 2 ; Bulson, Drew 1 ; Bevacqua, Garrett 1 ; Grimm, Otto 1
3B: Smith, Sawyer 1 ; Beier, Drew 1 ; Bevacqua, Garrett 1
HR: Nett, John 1
RBI: Nett, John 3 ; Wallat, Tate 1 ; Diaz, Mason 1 ; Smith, Sawyer 2 ; Bulson, Drew 2 ; Clapp, Ben 1 ; Beier, Drew 2 ; Bevacqua, Garrett 1 ; Jacobson, Brayden 1 ; Grimm, Otto 1
SF: Diaz, Mason 1 ; Jacobson, Brayden 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nett, John 2 ; Navratil, Ethan 1 ; Wallat, Tate 1 ; Riola, Sam 2 ; Smith, Sawyer 2 ; Bulson, Drew 1 ; Beier, Drew 1 ; Bevacqua, Garrett 2 ; Grimm, Otto 1 ; Gumbko, Mitchell 1 ; Schiller, Tyler 1
SB: Riola, Sam 1
HBP: Riola, Sam 2
