Baseball Goes Out in Style
Watertown, Minn - On the final week of the semester the Crown College Storm took a little break from studying to get two final baseball games in. With non-conference opponent North Central looking for their first win of the season the Storm were saying good-bye to several seniors and head coach Thor Benson on Wednesday afternoon. In game one the Storm got down 1-0 in the top half of the first inning after a single an error by shortstop Austin Petersen allowed the runner at first to go to third and later score on a sacrifice fly. Rightfielder Isaiah Jensen kept the Rams to just one score as he threw out a runner trying to score from second base on a single. The Storm came charging back in their half of the first getting back to back singles to start the inning from Petersen and Steve Boger. An error on the third baseman allowed Petersen to score on a ground ball hit by Jarvis. A single by catcher Nick Garrard scored Boger to give the Storm a 2-1 lead. Both pitchers sailed through the second and third innings before the Rams scored two unearned runs in the top of the fourth inning on the second error of the game by shortstop Petersen allowed the lead off batter on giving the Rams a 3-2 lead. With rain clouds, thunder and lightning fast approaching the Storm were able to score a single run in the bottom of the fifth inning to knot the score at 3-3. After a two hour rain delay the game resumed under sunny skies and neither team would score until the bottom of the eleventh inning when a walk and a double by first baseman Tom Fure would put runners on second and third with one out. An intentional walk to designated hitter Winston Mullet would load the bases for shortstop Austin Petersen but he would pop up to the second baseman leaving sophomore centerfielder Steve Boger to come to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. A single to left field scored the walk off run in the first game for the Storm. Sophomore centerfielder Steve Boger went 4-5 in the first game and catcher Nick Garrard went 2-3 and threw out four runners attempting to steal. Senior starting pitcher John Patnode went 11 innings in his final start of his college career allowing only 1 earned run while striking out 6 for the win. With the lights on and a time curfew looming the two teams began the second game of the double-header looking to get in at least five innings to make it an official game. The Storm struck first scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning on a triple by catcher Nick Garrard and a double by shortstop Austin Petersen to go ahead 2-0. In the bottom of the second inning the Storm chased starting pitcher Adam Zvanovec from the game scoring three times including a double steal by Steve Boger and Jacob Jarvis as Jarvis stole home. With the score at 5-0 starting pitcher Winston Mullet settled in and held the Rams to just two hits over five innings striking out nine in getting the win in his final college start. In total four Storm players competed in their final collegiate baseball game as second baseman Ryan Burkhart, pitcher and third baseman John Patnode, pitcher and designated hitter Winston Mullet and reserve outfielder and back up catcher Josh Ottoson all competed for the last time as Crown baseball players. This was also the final game as head coach for Thor Benson who announced he would be stepping down a week ago to pursue his PhD at the University of Minnesota. The Storm finished the season 6-24 overall and 2-19 in conference play.
