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Notables:-Austin Colvard (Little Canada, Minn./Roseville HS) (4) and Steven Neutzling (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral ) (3) combined for seven of the Saints nine stolen bases in the game.-Colvard and Neutzling also each picked up three hits in the game with Neutzling adding two RBIs.-The Vikings were charged with five errors in the game and allowed seven unearned runs.
DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica baseball team, No. 1 seed in the tournament, defeated No. 4 seeded Bethany Lutheran College 13-3 in an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament matchup on Thursday afternoon at Wade Stadium.
Padraic Getchell (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS (North Dakota) ) got the start in this important UMAC Tournament contest for St. Scholastica and pitched seven solid innings to earn the win allowing only one earned run on six hits. Getchell also struck out five batters in the game.
Jake Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Marshall School ) and
Kevin Kunik (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS ) combined to complete the final inning of the game for CSS. Fugere got the first two outs while giving up two runs on two hits and Kunik came in to get the last out.
Ronald Donley took the mound for Bethany Lutheran giving up nine runs, six of them earned, and 10 hits over five innings. Donley also struck out nine batters. Arien Nett completed the rest of the game for BLC pitching 2.1 innings with four unearned runs coming across on three hits.
The Saints hitters provided Getchell with great run support in the game with CSS scoring in every single inning except the first and seventh innings.
Steven Neutzling (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral ) scored the first run for St. Scholastica in the bottom of the second inning advancing home on a throwing error from the second basemen. Then with runners on first and second,
Al Marolt (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) drove in the second run of the inning with a RBI double.
Getchell got himself into a jam in the third inning as he struggled to command the strike zone issuing walks to the first two batters he faced. Getchell battled back, however, striking out the next batter but a single from Lucas Herd loaded the bases with just one out. Adam Geiger would cut the CSS lead in half with a RBI sacrifice fly for Bethany Lutheran. Then Getchell would load the bases once again after hitting a batter but induced a pop out to get himself out of trouble.
St. Scholastica answered back in the bottom of the third with a run of its own.
Brian Minks (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS ) and
Steven Neutzling (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral ) hit back-to-back triples with one out in the inning to push the score to 3-1.
The Saints then busted the game wide open in the fourth with a five-run inning. Colvard and Marolt each singled with one out in the inning and then pulled off a double steal advancing them to second and third respectively. Bernsdorf then plated them both a single up the middle to make it 5-1 Saints. Bernsdorf eventually came around to score on a fielding error and Neutzling and
Jordan Risse (Sioux Falls, S.D./Washington HS ) also picked up RBI's in the inning to put the Saints up 8-1.
In the fifth inning CSS once again used the double steal to their advantage. This time it was Colvard and Bernsdorf swiping the bags with Colvard stealing home and Bernsdorf stealing second bringing the score to 9-1.
St. Scholastica added another run in the sixth inning on an error from the shortstop to make it 10-1.
Bethany Lutheran finally silenced the Saints bats in the seventh inning keeping CSS off the scoreboard for the first time since the bottom of the first inning. Then in the top of the eighth inning the Vikings got a run across to make the score 10-2 on a Drew Quame RBI double. Jordan Grams then drew a bases loaded RBI walk to make the score 10-3.
In the bottom of the eighth three Vikings mishaps would lead to three more unearned runs for CSS. A throwing error by the shortstop allowed
Mike Policano (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury HS ) to score and then two wild pitches resulted in Minks and Risse advancing home making the final score 13-3.
Day one of the tournament was suspended following the Saints win due to weather conditions. Thus, CSS will face Northland College on Friday at 3 p.m. in the semifinal game. Northland defeated the University of Northwestern 5-4 in 10 innings to win the opening game of the day. Northwestern and Bethany Lutheran will open play Friday at noon with the loser being eliminated.
