Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Baseball really is a funny game sometimes. On a day when the Hamline batted out 17 runs and 23 hits, they gained a split of a doubleheader on a ... fielder's choice. 

Joe Setrum (pictured) beat out a relay on a grounder in the eighth inning to lift Hamline to a dramatic 8-7 win at Bethany Lutheran. The decision gave HU a split on the day and erased -- at least partially -- a 15-9 loss in the first game.  Perhaps more importantly, the win pushed the Pipers' overall record to 21-15 and guaranteed a third consecutive winning season under head coach Jim Weyandt.

The Pipers started out this game as if they were going to blow BLC right out of Mankato. Evan Cordell and Setrum had RBI singles and a third marker scored on an error in the top of the first inning. Two frames later, a dropped fly ball resulted in two runs scoring and a 5-0 lead. 

But BLC broke loose for a six run fourth inning to regain the lead. BLC added a fifth inning run only to see HU respond in kind in the sixth. In the seventh, Chris Zeller lined a one out double. Mitch Benson was inserted as a runner, eventually scoring on a throwing error. 

Matt Connell started the eighth with a double. With one out, Cordell was intentionally walked. Jasob Picht was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Setrum, who knocked in a pair of runs in the first game, then rapped a 2-2 pitch to shortstop to force Picht but beat the relay for the deciding run. Shay Torgerson (4-2), the fourth Piper pitcher of the game, worked around a walk to earn the win and ensure the winning season. 

The first game was a freewheeling affair. Connell and Collin Olstad whacked out three hits each. Connell drove in a pair and Olstad scored twice. Setrum and Andy Sammon added two hits apiece. 

Hamline, which has a 8-8 MIAC record, returns to league action and MIAC play on Wednesday, April 29 when they face St. John's in a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader. The regular season wraps up May 2 at UW-LaCrosse.