DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica baseball team once again hosts the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament at Wade Stadium this week, but for the first time will not enter as the reigning champions.
Where:
Wade Stadium – Duluth, Minn.
When:
Thursday, May 9
Game 1 –
11 a.m. (1 p.m.) – No. 4 UW-Superior vs. No. 5 Crown (single elimination)
Game 2 –
2 p.m. (4 p.m.) – No. 2 Bethany Lutheran vs. No. 3 Northwestern
Game 3 –
5 p.m. (7 p.m.) – No. 1 St. Scholastica vs. Winner of Game 1
Friday, May 10
Game 4 – 1 p.m. – Loser of Game 2 vs. Loser of Game 3
Game 5 – 4 p.m. – Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3
Game 6 – 7 p.m. – Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 5
Saturday, May 11
Game 7 – 1 p.m. – Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6
Game 8 – 4 p.m. – If Necessary Game (if two teams remain with one loss
Web Site: https://umacathletics.com/tournaments/?id=132
Live Video: https://csssaints.com/watch
Live Stats: https://csssaints.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Social Media:
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/cssbaseball
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/cssbaseball
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/cssbaseball/
St. Scholastica Saints
Stats
Record: 24-12
, 14-2 UMAC
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference: Standings | Stats
What you need to know about the Saints:
-The Saints captured their 23
rd consecutive UMAC regular season title with a doubleheader split at Bethany Lutheran College on Saturday.
-CSS then ended the season with a 9-8 non-conference loss to Bethel University on Sunday.
-Up until last year, the Saints had won the first 20 UMAC Tournaments contested.
-In league games, CSS led all conference teams in batting average (.351), doubles (47), triples (15), slugging percentage (.541) and stolen bases (61).
-The Saints had 31 more stolen bases than the next highest total.
-Junior
Eric Pearson (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) has hit 11 home runs, the most in a single-season by a Saint since 2002.
-Sophomore
Lane Girtz (Pierz, Minn./Pierz Healy HS) ranked fifth in the league with a .443 average in conference play.
-Senior
Brad Fossum (Sturgeon Lake, Minn./Moose Lake HS (Concordia-St. Paul)) led the conference in stolen bases (15), walks (20) and triples (3) in UMAC action.
-Fossum ranks seventh in NCAA Division III in walks per game (1.07).
-The Saints' earned run average (3.88) was second in the UMAC in conference play.
-Sophomore
Jake Sande (Hayward, Wis./Hayward HS) did not allow an earned run in 29.2 innings pitched in league play.
-Sande tied for a conference-best five UMAC wins.
-Freshman
Grant Taival (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi HS) was fourth in the UMAC with a 2.08 ERA.
What You Need to Know about Bethany Lutheran:
Record: 20-16, 13-3 UMAC
-The Vikings are the defending UMAC Tournament champions.
-Bethany lost to CSS, Northwestern and UW-Superior during the regular season and swept Crown.
-The Vikings led the UMAC in hits (203), runs (168) and fielding percentage (.977) in league play.
-Ben Boran led the conference in home runs (6), RBIs (28), runs scored (26), slugging percentage (.824) and was third in average (.456).
-Overall, Boran ranks ninth in NCAA Division III with 1.42 RBIs per game.
-The pitching staff struck out 116 batters, second-most in the league.
-Adam Fjerstad (33) and Dallas McBroom (27) were third and fourth in the league in strikeouts.
-Fjerstad tied Sande for the most wins in league play (5).
Series Record: CSS 48-8
(Last Meeting: 12-9 BLC – 5/4/2019)
Series History: The Saints split with the Vikings to close the regular season last weekend … The Vikings defeated the Saints 2-1 in last year's UMAC Tournament winner-take-all game … CSS is 14-4 against the Vikings in UMAC Tournament play.
What You Need to Know about Northwestern:
Record: 23-15, 10-6 UMAC
-The Eagles are arguably the hottest team entering the tournament, winners in nine of their last 10 games.
-UNW lost games to Bethany and UW-Superior, got swept by CSS and swept Crown.
-In UMAC play, Northwestern had the worst batting average (.260) out of any team in the conference.
-The Eagles are the only team in the UMAC Tournament, who scored less than 100 runs (89) in conference play.
-They were second in the conference with 30 stolen bases.
-Former Saint Sam Peterson led the team with three home runs.
-UNW's pitching staff was critical to its success, leading the league with a 3.65 team ERA.
-UNW walked a league-low 36 batters.
-The Eagles were the only conference team to have three pitchers finish in the top 10 in ERA.
-Sam Ludzack led the way with a 2.57 ERA.
-Bradley Spencer had eight saves, which ranks ninth in all of NCAA Division III.
Series Record: CSS leads 86-11
(Last Meeting: 5-1 CSS – 4/15/2019)
Series History: The Saints swept both games from Northwestern in St. Paul during the regular season … CSS has not faced the Eagles in the UMAC Tournament since the 2016 championship game … The Saints have won 15 straight UMAC Tournament games over the Eagles.
What You Need to Know about UW-Superior:
Record: 15-19, 9-7 UMAC
-The Yellowjackets needed to win one of two at the University of Minnesota Morris on Saturday to make the tournament and did just that, sweeping the Cougars.
-UWS won its final six conference games.
-The Yellowjackets split with BLC and UNW, but got swept by CSS and Crown
-Superior led the conference with 17 home runs and was second with 199 hits in UMAC play.
-The reigning UMAC Player of the Year Cory Albertson tied for second with five home runs and was second with 26 RBIs in league action.
-Travis Miller was fourth in the conference with a .448 average and led the UMAC with a .560 on-base percentage.
-Former Saint August Anderson led the team with 25 strikeouts, which ranked sixth in the league.
Series Record: CSS lead 14-8
(Last Meeting: 4-2 CSS – 4/9/2019)
Series History: The Saints have won 14 in a row over the Yellowjackets and have defeated UWS each of the last two seasons in the UMAC Tournament.
What You Need to Know about Crown:
Record: 16-17, 8-8 UMAC
-The Storm is making their first UMAC Tournament appearance since 2003.
-Crown won its first four UMAC games, then lost eight straight, before winning its final four to clinch a spot.
-The Storm were swept by CSS, BLC, UNW and swept UWS.
-They were fifth in the conference in average (.306), runs scored (118) and hits (175).
-Seth Betts led the team with 29 hits, 22 runs scored.
-Chad Herrera ranks second in NCAA Division III as the toughest strikeout.
-Crown was fourth in the conference with a 5.12 team ERA.
-Kress Medina (1.31) and Rico Aliva (1.35) finished second and third in the conference in ERA.
Series Record: CSS leads 60-0
(Last Meeting: 11-9 Crown – 4/26/2019)
Series History: The Saints swept the Storm at Wade Stadium during the regular season … Both games were relatively close even though the Saints won the first game 18-3, it was 4-0 entering the eighth inning … CSS played Crown twice in the UMAC Tournament with the last occurring in 2003.
Looking Ahead: The winner of the UMAC Tournament will receive the conference's automatic qualifier into next week's NCAA Regional Tournament. The format of the tournament has changed as there will now be 13, four-team regionals and 3, two-team regionals. The winners of those regionals then advanced to a best-of-three Super Regional the following week. The tournament field will be announced at 11 a.m. Monday morning on NCAA.com.
