Article by Noah Grant. Photo by the St. Could State Athletic Department/Nathaly Delgado.
The St. Cloud State Huskies baseball team earned a walk-off win in game two of the doubleheader against the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears on April 9. The Huskies finally picked up the victory after ten innings of baseball from Joe Faber Field.
After game one lasted three hours and eight minutes, the two teams were back at it for game two. Huskies’ starter A.J. Price worked a quick 1-2-3 top of the first, the first inning without a base runner all day. Price struck out Kal Brohmer and Bennett McCollow before getting Noah Juliar to bounce out to third.
The Huskies would put some pressure on in the home half of the first, as they loaded the bases on a hit by pitch, single, and a walk with two outs. Unfortunately for St. Cloud, they were unable to score as Hayden Konkol popped out to the catcher in foul territory.
The Golden Bears would open the scoring in the second, as they put runners on second and third after a walk, hit by pitch, and a passed ball. Charlie Harms picked up his fourth RBI of the day, grounding out to first to plate the first run. Kaden Johnson followed that up with a double, driving in the second.
Bennett McCollow made it 3-0 in the third, driving in Kal Brohmer with a double. The run was unearned, as Brohmer had opened the frame by reaching on a Eric Bello error.
The Huskies jumped back in front in the bottom half of the third, however, scoring four times off CSP starter Christian Lindow. Wyatt Tweet picked up his third double of the day to put runners on second and third, and Ethan Navratil lifted a sacrifice fly to right to get the Huskies on the board.
Wilmis Castro got his opportunity at the plate with runners on the corners and drove a fastball over the left center field wall for his second three run home run of the day. St. Cloud had a final chance in the inning putting two runners on, but Reese Piontek came out of the Golden Bears bullpen and extinguished the threat.
The Huskies bats may have brought the thunder in third, but mother nature brought the lightning in the fourth. With several flashes of lightning overhead, the game went into a weather delay in the bottom of the fourth. The delay lasted approximately 45 minutes as both teams sought shelter in their dugouts.
When baseball resumed, the Huskies showed no rust from the delay, scoring twice in the fifth to increase their lead to 6-3. To no surprise, Wilmis Castro was involved again, as he and Liam Moreno picked up RBI singles.
The Golden Bears would strike back just one inning later, tying the game at six with three runs off Huskies reliever Kahler Key. Kal Brohmer drove in a pair with his single, while Eric Berg scored on a wild pitch.
The offenses for both teams went quiet after that, as neither team could score across the next three innings. Both teams had chances, but some excellent pitching from Brody Richardson and Frankie Volkers for the Huskies, and Jack Greenlun for the Golden Bears, kept the scoring at bay.
The Huskies loaded the bases with just one out in the eighth, but Greenlun got a strikeout and flyout to deny the opportunity.
For the Golden Bears, they put runners on second and third with no one out in the tenth. With the go-ahead run just 90 feet away, Volkers struck out the next three batters he faced to retire the side.
In bottom of the tenth, Ethan Navratil doubled with two outs. With Blaine Guthrie batting, a pitch in the dirt evaded Golden Bears catcher Trett Joles and bounced behind him. Navratil took off for third after some hesitation, and when Joles tried to throw him out the throw sailed into left field. Navratil came around to score the game winning run and end the game after four hours and 18 minutes.
Volkers earned the win for St. Cloud while Greenlun picked up a tough loss. With the sweep, the Huskies improved to 17-15.
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