CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Baseball opened the American Rivers Conference Tournament with an 8-1 win over the No. 3 seed Luther College Norse at Mt. Mercy University on Thursday, May 9. The Knights advance to face No. 2 seed Buena Vista University later today at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Game Summary
- Second Inning
- Both teams recorded one hit each through two innings as both starting pitchers started strong on the mound
- Third Inning
- In the bottom half, Luther had two runners on with one out before Will Armstrong made a diving out at short stop and then turned the double play at second to get out of the inning still 0-0
- Fourth Inning
- Luther got on the scoreboard first with a solo shot to right field that made it 1-0 Norse
- Fifth Inning
- Caleb Andrews hit a two-out single, but was left stranded to keep the score 1-0
- Sixth Inning
- The Knights top of the order of Keaton Gray, Eliot Jurgensen and Zach Walton all reached to load the bases to begin the sixth
- A balk brought home Gray to tie the game at 1-1 and advanced all the runners but the Norse allowed no more runs to keep it tied
- Seventh Inning
- After Gray and Andrews both reached base, Jurgensen tripled to left center to bring both runners home
- Walton brought another run in with a single up the middle and then Carter Stubitz doubled down the left field line to score two more runs and make the score 6-1
- Will Armstrong kept the inning going with an RBI single that pushed the lead to 7-1
- Eighth Inning
- Gray tripled down the line and then was scored by a double from Jurgensen to make the score 8-1
Top Performers
Coaches Comments
"We had really good quality at bats up and down the lineup today," said Head Coach
Casey Klunder following the win. "As the season's gone on we've started to hit deeper and deeper in our order and we took advantage of that today."
Klunder went on to speak about his pitching staff, "What a gutsy performance out of Cael today to battle the elements and a good hitting team in Luther. It was awesome to be able to go from fifth year to fifth year on the mound with Boehmer and Hansen."
"What a great kid and hard worker," said Klunder on Jurgensen setting a new single season record for triples. "It was a great time for it with it giving us our first lead and he deserves all the success that has come this season."
Notes/Streaks
- Jurgensen's seventh inning triple set the single-season record at Wartburg with nine
- First A-R-C Tournament win since 2021 season
- A-R-C Tournament series between these teams moves to 8-6 in favor of Luther
- Wartburg is now 3-1 this season against Luther
- Juergensen now has 42 RBI this season
- Seven different Knights recorded a hit
- Boehmer is now 6-1 in decisions this season
- 75 strikeouts this season
Next Time Out
The Knights will continue A-R-C Tournament play this evening against the two seed Buena Vista University at 5 p.m.
