Notables
-CSS ranked No. 25 in the D3baseball.com Poll
-Zwak went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in game one, falling a home run short of the cycle
-Northland scored in just two of the 15 innings played
-The Saints are now 67-0-1 all-time against Northland, the one tie coming in 2005
-Neutzling and R. Bernsdorf have now reached safely in 23 straight games
DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The 25th-ranked St. Scholastica baseball team extended its perfect conference record to 14-0 Wednesday afternoon after a pair of home wins at Wade Stadium against the Northland College LumberJacks. More importantly, however, the Saints were crowned the 2017 UMAC regular season champions for the 21st consecutive year. The games were the last two regular season home games for CSS, who made quick work by defeating the Jacks 12-2 in game one and 13-3 in game two.
Game 1: CSS 12, NC 2 (F/7)
Northland came into the doubleheader at a solid 7-5 in the conference standings, looking to upset the Saints on their home field before the regular season came to a close.
Dan Hansen (Brooklyn Center, Minn./Park Center HS ) got the nod to start for St. Scholastica, heading to the rubber and pitching five innings of scoreless baseball.
Although Hansen kept the bats quiet for Northland in the early happenings of the game, the same couldn't be said about the CSS hitting crew. The Saints struck quickly Wednesday afternoon, plating two runs in the bottom of the first for a quick 2-0 lead over the Jacks.
Joey Zwak (Duluth, Minn. /Duluth East HS ) scored the first run of the game after starting the inning with a lead-off triple, which led to
Brian Minks (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS ) advancing him home on a groundout to second base. Two batters later, with
Steven Neutzling (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral ) on the base paths, Connor Wollenzien doubled to left-center field to knock in his teammate for the second run of the game.
The bats for CSS cooled down in the second, but caught a blaze in the third as they put together a six-run inning. The first run of the third inning came off the bat of
Riley Bernsdorf (Meadowlands, Minn. /Floodwood HS), who flied out to center field to score Minks. It was then
Trevor Bernsdorf (Elmer, Minn./Floodwood HS ) who decided to join in on the fun, singling to right center and scoring Neutzling to put the Saints up 4-0.
Michael Grove (Forest Lake, Minn./Edina HS ) then followed Bernsdorf's single with one of his own, hitting home Wollenzien and advancing Bernsdorf to third to put runners on the corners for
Drew Colvard (Little Canada, Minn./Roseville HS ). Colvard drove a 1-1 pitch to left-center field for a two-RBI double, and then proceeded to score off a Zwak single to right field to bring the score to 8-0.
The Saints wouldn't score again until Zwak came up to bat the next time around, this time doubling to left center to initially score Grove. Colvard also scored on the play after a throwing error from the Northland center fielder. The third and final run of the fifth inning was scored by Zwak, who arrived home after Minks singled to left to push the Saints' lead to 11-0.
After an outstanding starting performance by Hansen, who threw five-scoreless innings while allowing just three hits,
August Anderson (Mendota Heights, Minn. /Henry Sibley HS ) would be called to the mound to finish off the game for CSS. He made quick work in the top of the sixth, keeping Northland in check at a "goose egg". Colvard padded the lead even more in the bottom half of the inning, flying out to center to score
Drew Sathrum (Kenyon, Minn. /Kenyon-Wanamingo HS ). The Jacks were able to get two back on Anderson and the Saints in the top of the seventh, but that would be all they could muster across as they fell to CSS by a score of 12-2 in seven innings of play. The win gave the Saints a share of the conference title, with the chance to clinching it outright coming up in game two.
Zwak led the way at the plate in game one by going 3-for-5, recording two RBIs, and scoring two runs.
Drew Colvard (Little Canada, Minn./Roseville HS ) also had a productive swing, hitting 2-for-3 and recording a game-high three RBIs.
Game 2: CSS 13, NC 3 (F/8)
Game two on Wednesday looked very similar to that of game one, except this time Northland scored all their runs in the fifth inning instead of the seventh. Wollenzien quickly sparked momentum in favor of CSS in the bottom of the first, blasting a three-run home run to provide the first runs of the game.
Zwak pushed the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the second after scoring
Tim Munn (Champlin, Minn. /Champlin Park HS ) on a sacrifice fly to center field. The Saints scratched another run across in the third inning, this time scoring was Neutzling off a R. Bernsdorf sacrifice fly to left.
This time it was the fourth inning where the Saints did most of their damage, scoring four runs to extend their lead to 9-0. The first run came off a bases-loaded walk as Neutzling earned a free trip to first base, allowing Zwak to score from third. Wollenzien then followed Neutzling's walk with a sacrifice fly to center field, giving
Tyler Duex (Bloomer, Wis./Chippewa Falls HS (UW-Superior) ) the chance to tag from third base and score for the first time on the day. Minks than took his turn tagging from third, once again off a sacrifice fly from R. Bernsdorf. The last run was scored after Munn reached on an error, allowing Neutzling to score.
Northland knocked three runs in during the top of the fifth inning. The first two came off an Alex Elliott double and the last one off a Paden Kottwitz single to move them to within six runs at a score of 9-3. The Saints faltered for a bit in the next two innings, failing to punch a run across as the game stalled until the bottom of the seventh when Zwak singled in Colvard to put the Saints at double digits.
CSS then forced the 10-run rule in the bottom of the eighth after scoring three runs to make the score 13-3. Colvard added another RBI to his great day at the plate with a sacrifice fly to center, and then Duex capped off the game with a double to left field that scored both Sathrum and
Jeff LeMay (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS).
Zwak went a perfect 2-for-2 in the second game with three walks and two RBIs. Duex bounced back from a rough game one, going 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs as well. Wollenzien recorded a day-high four RBIs in the second half of the doubleheader.
Jacob Dzubay (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville HS (Butler) ) (2-2) earned the win for the Saints after pitching five innings and giving up three runs on three hits, while also walking three and striking out three.
Jake Turner (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS ) took over for the remainder of the game, allowing just one hit in his three innings of relief.
Up Next
The Saints will now travel to Bethel University for a game against the Royals tomorrow. The game against the MIAC competitor will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Arden Hills, Minnesota.
