Preseason All-American outfielder Blake Eller (file photo) knocked in 5 Saints runs in their win over Knox College in an elimination game at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
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The normally stellar St. Scholastica pitching staff had a sub-par outing against Knox (Ill.) College on Thursday morning but the bats were humming and led the Saints to a 15-7 win that sent the Prairie Fire (15-25) home on day two of the double-elimination NCAA Midwest Regional in Oshkosh, Wis.
The win keeps the Saints (33-5) -- losers to Wis.-Whitewater on day one -- alive in the regional tournament and sets up a Friday game against an opponent yet to be determined.
Truer to form than in Wednesday's loss in which they fell behind early, the Saints jumped on Knox starter Jordan Ball from the outset.
St. Scholastica's second batter of the game, Steve Kraushaar (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS), hit a one-out single past third which set up 2008 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year Sean Claugherty (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan HS) who hit his team-leading 10th home run of the season to make the score 2-0 after only three batters.
The Saints pushed across two more runs in both the second and third innings but the Knox batters began to nibble at the lead scoring runs off starter Matt Lewis (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) in the third, fourth, and fifth innings.
Reliever Jeff Adams (Two Harbors, Minn./Two Harbors HS) put out a fire in the fifth but after a quiet sixth gave up a pair of runs to the Prairie Fire in the seventh then one more in the eighth before giving way to 'Everyday' Dan Lanari (Virginia, Minn./Mt. Iron-Buhl HS) who was able to shut down that Knox spark.
With the pitching proving to be somewhat shaky -- surrendering a season-high 11 walks -- the offense kept hammering away for the Saints as they scored runs in each of the last three innings, eventually accumulating 16 hits off four different Knox hurlers.
Claugherty's early home run jump-started the offense but Blake Eller (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd HS) and Brian Marshik (Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View HS ) helped move it from simmering to boiling.
At the top of the order, Eller finished 4-for-6 collecting five RBI while scoring once and stealing two bases. Marshik, hitting in the nine-spot in the order as the DH, was 4-for-4 with four RBI, three runs, and two base thefts as well.
Adams (1-0) picked up the win for St. Scholastica pitching two innings of relief for Lewis, while Lanari earned his second save of the season.
Ball (1-7) lasted just one and one-third innings for Knox in taking the loss, surrendering four runs on seven hits including Claugherty's tone-setting home run.
Knox, a surprise entrant in the Regional via their upset of 26th-rated Ripon College in the Midwest Conference postseason tournament, packs their bags and heads home to Galesburg, Ill., with the loss.
The Saints now play the waiting game as their Friday, May 16, opponent and game time won't be settled until the conclusion of Thursday's schedule. Top-seed St. Thomas (1-0 in the Regional) plays Wis.-Oshkosh (0-1) following the Saints' game, which will then be followed by the Whitewater (1-0) versus Carthage College (1-0) late afternoon match-up. The outcome of those two games will determine the docket for Friday's game schedule.
