Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica baseball team earned a trip to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament Championship game by defeating Martin Luther 10-0 in the first game of the day and then held off Northwestern College 6-4 in the semifinal contest to advance to tomorrow's Championship game at Wade Stadium.

In the opener, both teams were scoreless thru two innings until the bottom of the third inning when CSS's Jake Casareto (International Falls, Minn./Falls HS) singled to score Kyle Jensen (Wyoming, Minn./Forest Lake HS) to break the deadlock.  Kyle Flagstad (Hinckley, Minn./Hinckley-Finlayson HS) would score on a wild pitch a batter later to put the Saints up 2-0.  Jake Kuschke (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi HS ) hit a single towards left field scoring Parker Olson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS (Minn.-Duluth)) and Casareto.  The Saints would lead 4-0 after the third inning.

CSS tallied four more runs in the fourth inning as Andy Schwantes (Lakeville, Minn./Apple Valley HS (Minn.-Duluth)) doubled to left center to score Casareto and Flagstad.  Olson would score on a fielder's choice a few batters later to make the score 7-0 in favor of the Saints.  Schwantes would score the fourth run of the inning, unearned, after an error on a routine pop-up in the infield.

The Saints tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning as Al Marolt (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) scored off of a Casareto sacrifice fly.  Flagstad would score off of an Olson single to bring the score 10-0.  CSS earned the mercy rule, winning 10-0.

Martin Luther (13-11) earned the No. 4 seed after winning the first ever play-in game in tournament history over Northland College on Thursday.  The Knights were held to five hits and were struck out six times.

MLC committed two errors in the field and four of the five hits were doubles.  Matt Olson took the loss for the Knights allowing 10 hits and eight runs, seven earned.

Casareto led CSS with three hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored.  Kuschke finished with three RBIs off of two hits as well.

The Saints finished the game with 12 total hits, took six walks, and were struck out just once.

Andy Davis (Chippewa Falls, Wis./McDonell HS ) pitched a complete game for the Saints, allowing just five hits and striking out six Knight batters.  Davis walked only one MLC batter in the game.

In the semifinal game against Northwestern, CSS jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning as Casareto scored on a fielder's choice, Austin Colvard (Little Canada, Minn./Roseville HS) scored on a Flagstad triple, and Flagstad would score the next at bat off of a Casareto groundout.

Northwestern would make the score 3-2 after scoring runs on a RBI single and a fielding error.

In the fifth inning Jensen scored off of a Flagstad single and Flagstad crossed the plate a few batters later off of a Mike Policano (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury HS ) groundout to third base.

NWC started a comeback bid in the final inning tallying two runs to make the score 6-4 but Thomas Rogers (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS ) earned his UMAC-leading eighth save to propel the Saints into the Championship game, winning by a final score of 6-4.

NWC (16-17) finished the game with 11 hits, while committing one error in the field.  Josh Balzer took the loss on the mound pitching a complete game allowing 10 hits and six earned runs.  Balzer did record three strikeouts.

CSS was led offensively by Flagstad with three hits and three runs scored followed by Casareto with two hits and two RBIs.

Jensen earned the win pitching 7.2 innings allowing eight hits and two earned runs. Jensen tallied four strikeouts while Rogers pitched 1.1 innings allowing three hits and two earned runs.

St. Scholastica (26-9) will play in tomorrow's UMAC Title game versus the winner of Martin Luther and Northwestern.   The title game is slated to start at 3 p.m. The MLC and Northwestern game will begin at noon as everything on the schedule tomorrow has been moved up an hour. All of the action can be seen live on Saints Sports Net.