Notables
-CSS will host the UMAC Tournament next week
-CSS shared the regular season title last year with BLC
-Girtz is on a 10-game hitting streak
MANKATO, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – It was a long, late Saturday night in Mankato, but the St. Scholastica baseball team did what it had to do and earned a split over Bethany Lutheran College to claim the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season championship.
Game 1: CSS 11, BLC 7
In a game that featured runs scored in eight of the nine innings, the Saints used a four-run top of the ninth to defeat the Vikings and clinch the regular season championship with an 11-7 victory.
CSS had three runs come across in the top of the first to take an early lead.
Aaron Weber (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Pierz HS) had a sacrifice fly and
Cole Tyman (Elk Mound, Wis./Elk Mound HS) drove in two with a double. A
Lane Girtz (Pierz, Minn./Pierz Healy HS) home run in the third made it a 4-0 Saints lead.
The Vikings then scored six straight runs to take a 6-4 lead into the seventh inning.
Eric Pearson (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) led off the seventh with his 10
th home run of the season to cut the margin to 6-5. Later in the inning, Girtz drove in
Brad Fossum (Sturgeon Lake, Minn./Moose Lake HS (Concordia-St. Paul)) to tie the game at 6-6.
A Tyman RBI double in the eighth gave the Saints the lead back at 7-6. However, Bethany responded with a run in the bottom half to make it 7-7 heading to the ninth.
CSS would load the bases with no outs and took an 8-7 advantage on a Weber fielder's choice. Weber later scored on a wild pitch.
James Fuerniss (Lonsdale, Minn./New Prague HS) followed with a RBI single and another fielder's choice by Tyman made it 11-7.
The Vikings went down in order in the bottom of the ninth to give the Saints an 11-7 victory.
Grant Taival (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi HS) pitched a 1.2 innings in relief to earn the win. Tyman had four RBIs, while Girtz was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. The home run by Girtz was also his first out-of-the-park home run of his career.
Game 2: BLC 12, CSS 9
The Vikings scored eight runs after the fifth inning, including a four-run seventh, which proved to be the difference in a 12-9 victory to earn the split.
The Saints jumped out to a 5-1 lead after 2.5 innings. Weber, Fossum, Pearson and
Tim Munn (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) all had RBIs during that span.
Despite Bethany chipping away at the margin, the Saints still led 8-6 going into the bottom of the seventh. The Vikings (19-16, 13-3 UMAC) then delivered a pair of two-run singles in the inning to take a 10-8 lead, their first lead of the game.
A Fuerniss RBI in the eighth cut the lead to 10-9, but a two-run home run in the bottom frame sealed the win for Bethany by a final of 12-9.
Pearson was 2-for-2, while also being walked three times. Weber drove in a pair of runs.
Up Next:
The Saints (24-11, 14-2 UMAC) will conclude the regular season on Sunday with a single, 9-inning game at Bethel University beginning at 1 p.m.
