Minneapolis, MN – The Crown College Polars Baseball team faced off against the Hamline Pipers for their first contests of the season at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Polars topped the Pipers 4-1 and 17-5 in two seven inning contests.

The first of two started out even with only four total hits through the first 4 innings. Hamline would notch the first run of the game in the bottom of the 5^th inning. Crown struggled to get the bats going until their final at bats in the top of the 7^th inning when a leadoff single from Ashton Long sparked a rally. Hits from Howie Hatton, Rhys Dewick, Tristen Ciarlo, Cael Magill, and Mason Brock gave the Polars 4 runs and the lead and Crown would hold on to win 4-1.

Aidan Volk-Specht started the game for Crown pitching 4.2 Innings allowing 1 earned run on 4 hits and totaling 4 strikeouts. Jacob Van Dam entered the game in the fifth pitching 2.1 innings of perfect baseball giving up no runs, no hits, and the win in this contest.

The second of two 7 inning games was a much different story than the first with twenty-three total runs scored. Hamline started the scoring in the first inning grabbing the first run of the game. Crown quickly answered back in the bottom of the 2^nd inning after a single by Dewick, double by Tristen Ciarlo, and 4 runs scored in the inning to make it 4-1. Hamline would respond cutting Crown's lead to 4-3 going into the 4^th.

The Polars added three more runs after a Mason Brock single and a Seth Betts double giving Crown a 7-3 lead. Once again Hamline would answer back scoring two runs of their own. The bottom of the 5^th marked the turning point in the game when Crown scored 9 runs to put the game away. Two doubles, a triple, and a home run along with multiple other hits gave Crown the large lead and they never looked back winning by a score of 17-5.

Three Polars pitched in the second contest Ryan Vondracek, Jacob Worley, and Tyler Bloom. Vondracek pitched 2.1 innings giving up 1 earned run, 4 hits, and struck out 3 batters. Worley would get the win after pitching 2.2 innings giving up 2 earned runs on 2 hits and striking out 2 batters. Bloom finished the game pitching 2 innings and did not give up any hits or earned runs.

Cael Magill led the weekend offensively with 5 hits going 5-8 in two games. Rhys Dewick went 4-6 with 2 RBI's, Ciarlo hit two doubles on the weekend and Howie Hatton notched the first homerun of the Polars season. Eleven Polars notched hits in the doubleheader.

Crown's next contest will be in Florida at the Russmatt Invitational located in Davenport, Florida and Auburndale, Florida. The Polars open up tournament play on Friday, March 10^th at 9am CT taking on Illinois College in a Doubleheader.

For more info on the Russmatt Invitational: https://russmatt.com