WINONA, Minn. -- The College of St. Scholastica baseball team split its MIAC doubleheader at Saint Mary's on Sunday afternoon in Winona, earning a 6–3 win in game one before falling 6–3 in the finale.
The Saints came out swinging in the opener, scoring twice in the first inning on back-to-back home runs from Luke Krull (Greenville, WI/Xavier HS) and Damian Tamayo-Vera. Saint Mary's answered with three in the bottom half, but Scholastica quickly regained control in the second. Andrew Beffel (Highlands Ranch, CO/Mountain Vista HS) tied the game with a solo home run before Markus Isaiah (Centralia, IL/Centralia HS) delivered a two-run double to give the Saints a 5–3 advantage.
From there, the Saints' pitching settled in. Blake Bullis (Inver Grove Heights, MN/Cretin-Derham Hall HS) worked five innings to earn the win, allowing three runs while navigating early traffic, and Ethan Zimmerman (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) tossed two scoreless innings in relief to close it out. Tamayo-Vera added an RBI single in the seventh for insurance, while Krull finished a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs scored as the Saints totaled nine hits in the 6–3 victory.
Game two saw Saint Mary's strike early and maintain control. After the Saints plated a run in the top of the first on an RBI groundout, the Cardinals responded with three runs in the bottom half and added single runs in the second, third, and fourth innings to build a 6–2 lead.
Scholastica chipped away with solo home runs from Tommy Crupi (Gilbert, AZ/San Tan Charter) in the fourth and Finley Spicer (Aberdeen, N.C./Union Pines HS (Limestone University)) in the sixth, but could not get closer. The Saints finished with six hits, led by a two-hit effort from Krull, while the bullpen combined for several scoreless innings after the early damage.
St. Scholastica has now hit a total of 31 home runs this season, the second most off all MIAC teams (Bethel, 32). They currently lead the conference as a team in batting average, collectively hitting .318.
With the split, the Saints move to 23–19 overall and 4–6 in MIAC play. Up next, they travel to Bethel on Tuesday afternoon to take on the Royals.
