Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST. PAUL (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica baseball team had to rally and win in extra innings to open the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament and then held on to win its second game to advance to Saturday's championship game.

CSS 3, Bethany Lutheran 2 (F/10)
The Saints rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the bottom of the ninth to tie it and then won it in the bottom of the 10th when Trevor Bernsdorf (Meadowlands, Minn./Floodwood HS (Doane) ) drove in Bret Moody (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo HS) to give the Saints the 3-2 walk-off victory.

Both teams threw out their aces as Andy Davis (Chippewa Falls, Wis./McDonell HS ) went for the Saints and Cory Ferm went for the Vikings. It was pitchers' dual through the first 4.5 innings as both teams had just one hit apiece. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Brian Minks (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS ) hit his first collegiate home run over the left field fence to give CSS a 1-0 lead.

The Vikings responded in the sixth inning. Joe Tuholsky led off with a single. CSS then had Tuholsky picked off at first, but he avoided the tag. The next Bethany batter laid down a bunt that could not be played cleanly to put runners at first and second. With the next hitter up, the Saints again had Tuhulsky picked off at second, but again missed the tag. The Vikings proceeded to lay down another perfect bunt to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by Lucas Herd and a RBI single by Adam Geiger gave Bethany a 2-1 lead.

The Saints would get runners to second base in both the seventh and eighth innings, but the Vikings held CSS off the board as the score remained 2-1 Bethany headed to the ninth.

Senior captain Tyler Henderson (Chisago Lakes, Minn./Chisago Lakes HS) then led off the bottom of the ninth with a game-tying home run to left. It was his second career home run. The Saints went down in order after the homer as the contest went to extras.

The Vikings would strand a runner at third in the top of the tenth. With one out in the bottom of the frame, Moody singled. Austin Colvard (Little Canada, Minn./Roseville HS) then laid down a great bunt and beat out the throw to put runners at first and second. Next, Bernsdorf stepped into the batter's box and ripped a base hit to left field, Moody was sent home from second and the throw from the left fielder was off line and Moody slid in safely to give St. Scholastica a 3-2 victory.

Davis pitched seven innings for the Saints, striking out six in the no decision. Thomas Rogers (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS ) earned the win, facing only two batters. Ferm struck out six in 9.1 innings on two days rest for Bethany. Seven different Saints had hits.

CSS 6, Northwestern 4
The Saints scored five runs between the first two innings and then hung on for a 6-4 victory over the University of Northwestern to advance to Saturday's championship game.

CSS began the game in the bottom of the first with four straight singles with Tyler Duex (Bloomer, Wis./Chippewa Falls HS (UW-Superior) ) and Henderson collecting RBIs in that span. Parker Olson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS (Minn.-Duluth)) had a RBI single later in the inning to make it 3-0 after one.

St. Scholastica then took advantage of three Northwestern errors in the bottom of the second to get two more runs across. Henderson had another RBI in the inning. Duex added a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth to make it 6-0 Saints.

Freshman Sam Sorenson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS ) did not allow a hit through the first four innings, before the Eagles got into the hit column and added a run in the fifth to make it 6-1.

After the Saints stranded the bases loaded in the seventh, Northwestern's Andy Peterson hit a three-run home run to make it 6-4.

Sean Imes (Evergreen, Colo./Evergreen HS ) then entered to pitch for the Saints and sat down the next batters to end the eighth. Imes stayed out in the ninth and allowed a two-out infield single. However, he would get the next batter to groundout to end the game 6-4.

Sorenson went 7.1 innings to earn the win. Imes picked up the save, striking out two, while allowing just one hit in 1.2 innings. Henderson was 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBIs. Jake Kuschke (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi HS ) and Duex also had a pair of hits. The Eagles committed five errors in the contest.

The Saints (29-10) will now face the winner of Bethany Lutheran and Northwestern (10 a.m.) in tomorrow's championship game at 1 p.m. The game will take place at Hargis Park on the campus of Bethel University. Listen to the action live on Saints Sports Net.