Notables
- The Saints fall to 1-4 in their all-time series record against the Bears
- First time the two programs have played each other outside of the St. Louis area
- Neutzling homered twice and earned four RBIs in the CSS loss
- 11 of the 14 hits for CSS were singles

LEESBURG, Fla. (csssaints.com) – Washington University-St. Louis plated the first nine runs of the game, with four coming in the top of the first inning, and then held off the late St. Scholastica attack to upend the Steven Neutzling (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral ) led baseball team by a score of 10-8 Monday afternoon in the Russmatt Invitational.

The Action
Jake Turner (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS ) was given the nod to start on the mound for St. Scholastica for the first time in his career, but hit a rough patch in the early going as CSS gave up four runs in the top of the first inning. Before the first out was recorded, the Bears had already scored two runs on four hits. Turner retired three of the next four batters, however, and despite having the bases loaded with no outs he managed to work his way out of the inning with only giving up four runs.

The Bears scratched one more run across in the second inning after Ben Browdy singled in John Ostrander to make it a 5-0 Washington University lead. The Saints were able to get the bats going in the bottom of the second, earning their first two hits of the game, but came up empty thanks to a nice strike out, throw out play by the Bears defense.

The scoring seized until the top of the fourth, which is when the Bears piled it on once again. Three straight singles from Washington University gave them another run and left two on base for Browdy, who made the most of the opportunity with a three-run homerun to make the score 9-0. Turner then forced a grounder that the CSS defense turned into a double play, but then gave up another hit to ultimately end his day on the mound. Joe Gonrowski (Elk River, Minn./Elk River HS ) came in to earn the final out for the Saints defense in the fourth.

The Saints, who failed to answer to Washington University's first big inning, didn't struggle answering this time around. Tyler Duex (Bloomer, Wis./Chippewa Falls HS (UW-Superior) ) earned a "free pass" to first, followed by a Brian Minks (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS ) single to put two on with no one out. Steven Neutzling (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral ) capitalized, blasting a three-run homerun to right center to put the Saints on the board. Trevor Bernsdorf (Elmer, Minn./Floodwood HS ) followed the Neutzling homer with a single of his own, and was then knocked in by a Conor Wollenzien (North Mankato, Minn. /Mankato West HS) triple. Finally, Wollenzien scored after a fielding error from the Bears to cap off the five-run inning for CSS.

Neutzling knocked in another run in the bottom of the fifth, this time off of a ground ball, double play that scored Duex from third. Two innings later, Neutzling provided yet again with a solo homerun to right to bring the Saints within two. Gonrowski, after pitching three scoreless innings, was taken out of relief and replaced by Isaac Rocha (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna HS). Rocha gave up a single that scored a Washington University runner, but that would be all Rocha gave to the opponents.

The bottom of the eighth showed promise, as Duex walked with two outs and the bases loaded to bring the score to 10-8 in favor of the Bears. Brian Minks (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS ), who has proven to come through in tough situations in the past, wasn't as fortunate this time as he flied out to right field to end the Saints threat and head to the ninth. The ninth inning was scoreless, and the shootout came to a close with the Bears taking a 10-8 win over the Saints.

Pitching
Turner picked up the loss for the Saints. Gonrowski and Rocha did not allow an earned run in 5.1 innings with Gonrowski scattering three hits in 3.1 innings and Rocha one hit in two innings. Both combined for seven strikeouts. Bill Heisler of the Bears earned the win after pitching three innings of relief, while only giving up one run and striking out two.

Top Offensive Performances
???????Neutzling led the charge offensively for the Saints, going 3-for-5 from the plate with two runs and four RBIs. T. Bernsdorf also had a good day swinging the bat as he went 3-for-5 as well with a run scored.

Up Next
The Saints will get a much needed two days of rest before returning in action on Thursday in Winter Haven, Florida. They are set to take on McDaniel College in a doubleheader with the first game starting at 9:30 a.m. (ET).