Notables
-Tautges has six hits in the doubleheader
-Tautges has reached base in all 14 games
-Schelonka hits grand slam in game one
MANKATO, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica baseball team split once again with an upper echelon Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) team, defeating rival Bethany Lutheran College 15-9 in game one, but dropping game two by a 9-5 margin on Saturday.
Game 1: CSS 15, BLC 9
Jake Schelonka's (Sartell, Minn./Sartell HS) grand slam home run opened the game up for the Saints in the fifth inning as they went on to win game one 15-9.
A
Mitchell Olson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie HS) RBI and
Bryce Huffman (Proctor, Minn./Proctor HS) scoring on a wild pitch gave the Saints an early 2-0 lead. However, the Vikings (7-11, 5-2 UMAC) hit a pair of home runs in the bottom of the first to take a 5-2 lead.
Trailing 5-4 in fifth,
Matt Tautges (Fort Ripley, Minn./Pierz HS) ripped a RBI double to bring in
Zach Harding (Red Wing, Minn./Red Wing HS) and tie the game at 5-5. Tautges later scored on a wild pitch to give CSS a 6-5 lead. Following a walk and a pitching change, Schelonka belted a grand slam home run to make the score 10-5. For Schelonka, it was his second consecutive game with a home run.
Bethany cut the margin back to one after the six inning. However, the Saints responded with five runs in the seventh.
Luke Schemenauer (Chippewa Falls, Wis./Chippewa Falls HS) had a RBI single.
Alex Haapajoki (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd HS (Central Lakes CC)) drove in two with a single. Tautges had his second RBI double of the contest and Harding scored on a wild pitch to make it 15-9, which would also be the final.
Dallas Miller (Monticello, Minn./Big Lake HS) struck out seven in 5.2 innings to get the win.
T.J. Martin (Minneapolis, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) struck out five in 3.1 innings to earn his first collegiate save. Tautges was 3-for-6 with all three hits doubles, which matches a program record.
Game 2: BLC 9, CSS 5
CSS jumped out to a quick four-run lead after a half inning in game two, only to see Bethany score five runs in the second and then the final four runs of the game to win 9-5.
Mitchell Novak (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS) had a sacrifice fly, Schelonka a RBI double and Olson a two-run home run to give the Saints an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first.
St. Scholastica recorded two quick outs in the second inning before a two-out walk eventually led to back-to-back two-RBI doubles to tie the game at 4-4 and then another double to make it 5-4.
Olson scored on a
Kam Larson (Chaska, Minn./Chaska HS) squeeze bunt in the third to tie game at 5-5. However, a two-out RBI in the fourth pushed another run across for the Vikings to give them back the lead at 6-5.
Bethany then hit back-to-back home runs to start the fifth and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth for the final scoring of the game as the game ended 9-5.
Grant Taival (Stillwater, Minn./Mahtomedi HS) struck out seven in 4.2 innings in the defeat. Tautges was 3-for-5 to lead the CSS offense.
Up Next
The Saints (9-5, 5-3 UMAC) return to Wade Stadium this week where they will host the University of Wisconsin-Superior for a UMAC doubleheader on Wednesday beginning at 1:30 p.m.
