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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but both teams in the NCAA Midwest Regional would classify Saturday afternoon's 21-13 Wis.-Whitewater (39-9) victory over the Saints (35-6) as a beast of a game.
The victory in Oshkosh, Wis., ends No. 21 St. Scholastica's season while the 11th-ranked Warhawks earn their way into the Division III College World Series in Grand Chute, Wis., next weekend.
Ten errors, five by each team, and a combined 11 walks and seven hit batters between the two nationally ranked programs made the regional final into almost a war of attrition.
The Saints used five pitchers while Whitewater called back Aaron Dott -- their game starter in the Warhawks' first outing of the Regional against the Saints -- for their fourth and final pitcher of the nearly four hour contest.
So, someone had to win, and at times it looked like the Saints would be that team.
Right off the bat St. Scholastica's first two batters reached base on singles with Blake Eller (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd HS) and Steve Kraushaar (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS) eventually coming around to score to give the Saints a 2-0 lead before their starting pitcher took the mound.
Unfortunately, starter Brandon Fritz (Perham, Minn./Perham HS) didn't make it out of the first inning getting the quick hook after yielding a pair of runs on three hits and a walk while registering only one out.
Tied at 2-2, Whitewater went on a rampage over the next few innings and took a seemingly safe 10-3 lead into the top of the fifth inning.
For the second time in the game, though, the Saints looked like they had what it would take to pick up the win and force a second championship game as they plated seven runs in the top of the fifth to tie the score at 10-10.
The Warhawk bats still had a lot of life left in them and they regained the lead by scoring three runs in the bottom half of the inning to steal the momentum away from a Saints dugout that had believed destiny was sitting amongst them.
After losing to Whitewater to open the Regional, the Saints' backs were to the wall in the double-elimination tournament but they appeared more than comfortable with that position as they won three straight elimination games knocking out Knox (Ill.) College on Thursday, 10th-ranked Carthage (Wis.) College early Thursday afternoon followed by top-seed and No. 9 St. Thomas in the late afternoon.
No St. Scholastica baseball team -- as successful as the program has been -- has ever played their way into the NCAA Regional final and after their three consecutive victories to reach this years' title game, it was easy to see why they may have felt this was finally their College World Series fate.
Behind by only three heading into the sixth, the Saints simply had to rally a second time in the game, and by far fewer runs needed than with their first come-back.
But Whitewater posted five more runs on the scoreboard in the sixth to build the lead to eight and critically dampen the hopes of another St. Scholastica rally.
Though they scored three more in the seventh, the steam had finally run out on the Saints season.
Blake Eller (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd HS), the Regional Tournament MVP, scored three runs in the loss on a 1-for-4 day in which the hot-hitting center fielder was walked twice.
Outfield-mate Kraushaar continued his near-mirculous comeback from eight stitches following a fastball to the face on Friday in the Carthage contest, finishing 2-for-6 in the Whitewater game including a 2-run homerun.
Yet another senior, catcher Mike Lewis (Esko, Minn./Esko HS), had a fine day at the plate going 3-for 5 with an RBI and one run scored.
Freshman Josh Hawkins (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury HS) (3-2), St. Scholastica's third pitcher, took the loss for the Saints after surrendering seven runs on five hits in two and a third innings on the mound.
Jason Hooper (1-0) picked up the win for Whitewater allowing three runs, one was unearned, on three hits in two innings of work.
Joining MVP Eller on the Regional All-Tournament Team were sophomore pitcher/third baseman Steve Gerten (West St. Paul, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) and sophomore first baseman Sean Claugherty (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan HS).
The loss also marked the end of storied careers for six Saints seniors as Eller, Kraushaar, Lewis, Fritz, Darrin Carlson (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown HS), and Ben Sartori (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing HS) close the book on a four-year span that saw their team earn an NCAA tournament bid in each of their years, a program first for any graduating class.
