Notables
-First meeting between the two programs
-Harris hits first home run as a Saint in game two
-CSS out-hits Millikin in both games; CSS was 15-2 when they did that last season
-First loss since 2018 when leading after seven innings
DECATUR, Ill. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica baseball team dropped its first two games of the 2022 campaign on Sunday to Millikin University (Ill.), losing game one 2-0 and then surrendering a late lead to lose on a walk-off wild pitch in game two by a score of 6-5.
Game 1: Millikin 2, CSS 0
The Saints were hitless until the fifth inning and had just one runner reach third base in the contest as the Big Blue scored on a sacrifice fly and then a two-out error all in the third inning for the only two runs of the game.
Jake Harris,
Jake Schelonka (Sartell, Minn./Sartell HS) and
Mitchell Novak (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS) had the three hits in the game for the Saints.
Dallas Miller (Monticello, Minn./Big Lake HS) allowed only two hits in five innings in the defeat.
Game 2: Millikin 6, CSS 5
After being unable to get the bats going in game one, the Saints started off game two with a single by
Matt Tautges (Fort Ripley, Minn./Pierz HS). Tautges later scored on a
Bryce Huffman (Proctor, Minn./Proctor HS) RBI double to give CSS a 1-0 lead. Millikin answered with a pair of runs in the bottom frame to lead 2-1 after one.
The Saints tied it in the second with a two-out double by Tautges to bring in
Jack Tiemann (Bloomington, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS). It remained 2-2 until the fourth inning when
Luke Schemenauer (Chippewa Falls, Wis./Chippewa Falls HS) tripled to plate Tiemann and make it 3-2. Two batters later, Harris stepped to the plate and hit the first home run of the season for CSS and extend the lead to 5-2.
The Big Blue chipped away at the lead with a sacrifice fly in the fifth and an RBI groundout in the sixth to make it 5-4. Millikin tied it at 5-5 on a sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning. The Big Blue got the leadoff batter on in the ninth and they would be standing at third with two outs. A pitch would get away and the winning run came across in the 6-5 defeat.
Tautges went 3-for-5 at the plate to lead the 10-hit attack for the Saints. Tiemann and Schemenauer added a pair of hits.
Up Next
The Saints (0-2) face the Big Blue (6-2) again tomorrow (Monday) for a single, 9-inning game beginning at 11 a.m.
