Notables
-CSS ranked No. 25 in D3baseball.com poll
-The games were two seven-inning doubleheaders
-CSS ranked fourth in the Midwest Region, St. Thomas third
-Neutzling has reached base safely in 28 straight games
-Joey Zwak (Duluth, Minn. /Duluth East HS )'s hitting streak ends at 19 games
ST. PAUL, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The No. 25 St. Scholastica baseball team finished the regular season by going 1-1 against regional rival University of St. Thomas on Sunday.
Game 1: CSS 2, St. Thomas 1
Both aces went in the first game of the day with
Martin Alcoverde (Tucson, Ariz. /Sahuarita HS (Mesabi Range CC)) throwing for the Saints and Henry DeCaster tossing for the Tommies.
Alcoverde allowed the first two St. Thomas to reach base by hit, but then proceeded to record three straight strikeouts to leave them stranded.
The Saints offense then got things going in the second inning with four consecutive hits to lead off the inning.
Conor Wollenzien (North Mankato, Minn. /Mankato West HS) singled and then
Riley Bernsdorf (Meadowlands, Minn. /Floodwood HS) doubled. That was followed by a
Tim Munn (Champlin, Minn. /Champlin Park HS ) RBI single to bring in Wollenzien.
Trevor Bernsdorf (Elmer, Minn./Floodwood HS ) followed with another RBI single to plate his brother to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.
The Tommies responded in the bottom frame with a two-out solo home run by Logan Kohorst to make it 2-1.
Alcoverde would be replaced in the fifth inning by
Isaac Rocha (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna HS). St. Thomas loaded the bases with one out, but Rocha would get a strikeout and then an infield pop-up to end the threat. Moving ahead to the seventh inning, the Tommies led off with a double. After a sacrifice, St. Thomas had the tying run at third with one out. Rocha again recorded a strikeout and then a groundout to end the game by a 2-1 margin.
Alcoverde had five strikeouts in four innings to earn the win. Rocha struck out four in three innings to earn his second save of the season. DeCaster finished with eight strikeouts for the Tommies in the loss. T. Bernsdorf was 2-for-3 with a RBI to lead the offense.
Game 2: St. Thomas 13, CSS 6
The Saints stumbled out of the gate in the nightcap, falling behind 9-0. The Saints got the margin down to four, but ultimately fell by a 13-6 margin.
The Tommies scored seven runs in the third inning with four runs coming on a Jake Smith grand slam. Despite trailing by nine runs, the Saints kept fighting and would score five runs in the top of the fifth.
Tyler Duex (Bloomer, Wis./Chippewa Falls HS (UW-Superior) ) had a RBI single and that was followed by a
Brian Minks (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS ) 3-run home run.
Michael Grove (Forest Lake, Minn./Edina HS ) had another RBI in the inning following an
Eric Pearson (Champlin, Minn. /Champlin Park HS ) triple.
Unfortunately, St. Thomas responded with three runs in the bottom frame to extend the lead back to 12-5.
Steven Neutzling (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral ) had a RBI in the sixth and the Tommies also added one more run to make the final 13-6.
Grant Rindal (Superior, Wis./Superior HS ) suffered his first loss of the season. Grant Gunderson pitched four scoreless innings to earn the win for the Tommies.
Minks was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Drew Colvard (Little Canada, Minn./Roseville HS ) and Wollenzien also had two hits in the loss.
Up Next
The Saints (29-8) will host the four-team Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament beginning on Thursday. CSS will play the 7 p.m. game Thursday against University of Wisconsin-Superior, who earned the final tournament spot in dramatic fashion Sunday.
