MANKATO, Minn. – The Bethany Lutheran baseball team produced runs on just three swings on Sunday afternoon but it was all they needed to claim the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament Championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Liam Peterson, Aidan Russell, and Ben Hopper all hit home runs to complement a masterful pitching performance from Conor Merton who went the distance to propel the Vikings to a 7-3 win over Crown. With the win, Bethany claims their third ever Tournament Championship and first since 2019.

Merton would set the tone in the top of the first inning, setting down three of the top hitters in the conference in order to bring the Vikings to the plate.

Matt Verdugo would open things up with a walk before Ben Hopper smashed one into the turf that bounced up and over the head of the Polar first basemen to put runners on the corners with Peterson stepping to the plate. The Port Orchard, Washington native put his stamp on the game in his first AB as he blasted a ball to left that the Crown left fielder could only watch as it cleared the tall wall in left and bounced into the Madison East Center parking lot to put the Vikings up 3-0 early.

After Merton put Crown down 1-2-3 in the second, Jacob Worley would come on in relief for the Polars in the bottom half and the two would lock themselves into a pitcher's duel. Neither would allow a run until the fifth inning, with Merton not allowing a hit until the fourth. Unfortunately for Worley, it was the Vikings who would break the scoreless streak with Verdugo once again finding his way on base via a single before Russell would blast a home run out to right to put the Vikings up 5-0.

Merton retired the first two batters of the sixth inning, before he would issue two straight walks and Howie Hatton made him pay by going the other way to hit one into the suites in right field and cut the lead to 5-3 with the game's third home run.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Eli Fest would single to begin the inning before Matt Verdugo grounded into what looked like a double play but the Polar shortstop pulled his foot off second too soon and Fest was called safe and remained on the base. Aidan Russell then grounded out before Hopper made Crown pay for the extra out, hitting a towering home run into the suites in right put Bethany back up by four runs at 7-3 with two innings to play.

Merton then worked around a pair of hits in the eighth inning to keep the four run lead before three straight groundouts to Ben Hopper helped the senior finish off the complete game victory.

The Aussie finished his day on the mound allowing just four hits over nine innings, striking out four in the win and claiming UMAC Tournament MVP honors in the process.

Hopper led the attack at the plate with three hits, while Fest added two.

Bethany will now await their first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament that will be announced Monday at 11 a.m. as part of the NCAA Selection show.