Steve Kraushaar's first inning home run put the Saints on the board early, but his towering shot over the scoreboard in the seventh was the most talked-about at-bat of the game.
Box Score
St. Scholastica's
Steve Kraushaar (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS) crushed two home runs – including a shot that cleared the Wade Stadium scoreboard in right center field – on his way to a 4-for-5 day and six RBI in the Saints' 14-1 rout of Northland College in the second round of the 2008 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference postseason tournament on Thursday evening.
Kraushaar got the 21st-ranked Saints (31-4) rolling early with a solo shot over the right field wall in the second at-bat of the game.
While St. Scholastica starter
Peter Burg (St. Joseph, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral) was humming along keeping the LumberJacks at bay through the early innings, Northland starter Bryce Szymanski was one mistake away from heading into the fourth in a scoreless tie.
An unearned run in the fourth made it 2-0 in favor of the Saints before a 3-run fifth – keyed by a
Sean Claugherty (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan HS) home run that hit the Allegient Air sign in right – gave Burg even more of a cushion.
Over the next three innings Burg recorded five strikeouts then opened the sixth with two more before Szymanski picked up on a Burg mistake for a solo home run to right for Northland's first and only run of the game.
A 4-run Saints sixth had made it 9-0 before Szymanski's shot but the Saints responded to losing the shut-out by sending 11 batters to the plate in the seventh, scoring five runs and highlighted by Kraushaar's monstrous shot over the scoreboard.
Burg (10-0) pitched six innings allowing just the one run on four hits, one walk and eight strikeouts in earning the win.
Ben Sartori (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing HS) closed out the win in relief of Burg with a two-strikeout seventh.
Claugherty also had a 4-for-5 day at the plate and brought in a trio of Saints while lead-off batter
Blake Eller (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd HS) collected three singles, scored twice and registered one RBI.
Szymanski (3-4) took the loss for Northland (13-16) surrendering eight earned runs on nine hits and a walk over five and two-thirds innings. Matt Tanneberg threw the final one and a third innings in relief allowing five runs on five hits.
The win moves the Saints into the championship game of the tournament at 6 p.m. on Friday where they'll meet the winner of the Northland versus Bethany Lutheran College game that begins at 1 p.m. in Wade.
**SAINTS**
