Roseville, Minn. – Needing two wins against UW-Superior to claim the program's first conference championship, Crown baseball rode hot bats and strong pitching performances to a pair of wins and the UMAC title on Saturday. Crown won game one 13-5 thanks in large part to seven RBI from the duo of Bailey Sarto and Kyle Schroedle, and prevailed 7-2 in game two thanks to a complete game gem from tournament MVP Eric Newman.
After defeating Bethany Lutheran on Thursday, Crown fell to the Yellowjackets on day two of the tournament, but rebounded to knock out host and tournament favorite Northwestern to propel themselves into championship Saturday. With the Jackets having won their opening two games of the double-elimination tournament, Crown would need to win twice to claim the UMAC title.
Game one got off to a rocky start as Superior put up three runs in the bottom of the first and led by that 3-0 margin through two innings.
Crown responded with seven unanswered runs from the top of the third through the top of fifth, highlighted by a three-run homer from Sarto in the third and a solo shot from designated hitter Alejandro Molina in the fourth.
Starter Jacob Shirley attacked the Superior lineup, pounding the strike zone through four innings and rebounding nicely from a rocky bottom of the first to put up three straight zeroes on the board. The right-hander got in trouble again in the fifth, however, making way after getting one out with runners on the corners.
Crown turned to sophomore Jacob Van Dam who allowed a sacrifice fly to score the second run of the inning and then got a strikeout to end the threat. Crown led 7-5 at the end of five, and although the Polars would explode for six run in the seventh inning, they wouldn't need to as Van Dam cruised through the next four innings, allowing just two hits and a walk with five strikeouts to earn the win.
Crown did show some fireworks in the seventh, making things much easier on the defense as Sarto walked to open the inning and Seth Betts was hit by a pitch, brining up the dangerous Schroedle with runners on. Crown's right fielder smashed a home run to straight away center field to blow the game open and Crown would continue to score, getting an RBI single from Aaron Clogston, a run-scoring double play, and then an RBI double from Mason Brock.
Brock went 4-6 with a pair of doubles, while Schroedle, Molina, Jack Becker, and Tristan Shoemaker each recorded two hits.
The win set up a winner-take-all championship game a little less than an hour later with both teams sending their ace to the hill. Both Superior's Ryan Rodriguez and Crown's Eric Newman threw well over 100 pitches in Thursday victories, but came back on just a day's rest for the biggest game of the season.
Despite being the two seed with Superior entering the tournament as the four seed, the Yellowjackets maintained home field advantage in the title game by way of entering through the winner's bracket, so Crown got the first crack at the plate and didn't waste time jumping on Rodriguez, the same pitcher who defeated the Polars in last year's 4/5 matchup to open the conference tournament.
Brock singled to lead things off and Sarto reached on a bunt single. Betts then singled in a run and Schroedle worked an incredible, eight-pitch at bat to single in Sarto. After a strikeout, Molina hit a sac-fly to score Betts and Crown would exit the top of the first with a 3-0 lead.
Early, it looked like neither starter had the gas left in the tank to be effective as Superior's leadoff man reached, and came in to score on a sacrifice fly just two batters later. Newman settled in, however, and escaped the first with just the one run allowed.
Rodriguez pitched a clean second inning, but after throwing 158 pitches in a complete-game performance Thursday, did not come out for the third.
From that point on, it was all about the dominance of Newman. Crown's ace never looked back in this one, allowing just a single run in the third and never surrendering the lead. He would finish with a complete-game victory, allowing just the two runs on six hits, three walks, and a hit batter, with an astounding 15 strikeouts.
Crown tacked on to their lead throughout, scoring on a fielder's choice in the fourth, and then loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth before plating two more runs on fielder's choices. The Polars would score their seventh and final run in the seventh on a Clogston sac fly.
Betts crossed the plate twice and Molina had two-RBI to lead the offense, but it was an MVP performance from Newman that took the headlines as the Polars were crowned conference champions.
Crown will await the NCAA selection show on Monday at 11 a.m. on ncaa.com to learn their opponent in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.