Saints shutout Vikings to claim 20th-straight UMAC baseball tourney title
DULUTH, Minn.---One of the most successful Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) programs continued to add to its successful reign as the College of St. Scholastica baseball team closed out another decade of winning the conference tournament title taking it's 20th-straight with a 8-0 win over Bethany Lutheran College Saturday.
With the win Saturday, the Saints improved to 32-8 after allowing just three total runs in their three tournament wins in as many days during the UMAC playoffs. They also earned the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA tournament and will make a 13th-consecutive appearance.
|
Tournament Site |
Box Score |
As they have done all tournament, the Saints wasted no time getting on the board scoring in the bottom of the first inning to put the pressure on the Vikings Saturday. The tournament's most productive player in Tyler Duex kicked things off for the Saints with a double before coming home on a sacrifice fly from Steven Neutzling giving the champions a 1-0 lead.
In the third, Duex picked up his second double of the game to bring in Drew Colvard who hit a lead off single to start the inning. Connor Wollenzien then brought Duex home with a RBI single pushing the Saints' lead to three.
The Saints' most productive inning came in the bottom of the sixth as they poured in three more runs to extend their lead to 6-0. Riley Bernsdorf and Eric Pearson collected back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and were then brought home on consecutive singles from Colvard and Joey Zwak. Duex picked up his third hit of the game to drive in Colvard.
Grant Rindal kept the Vikings at bay pitching seven innings of shutout baseball to support the team's offensive efforts. He struck out six and allowed just six hits in an extremely efficient performance on the mound for his sixth win of the season.
Following Rindal's impressive outing, the Saints added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a ground rule double from Brian Minks sending Colvard and Zwak across the plate for the 8-0 lead. Isaac Rocha and Jake Turner closed out the win in relief for the Saints.
Duex led the Saints' offensively for the third straight game going 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. He finished the Saints' three games 8-of-10 with three walks, five runs and five RBI including an in-the-park home run to kick off the scoring in the Saints' opener. Colvard also had a solid day going 2-for-2 and scoring three runs.
The Vikings were led offensively by Dannny Kneeland with two hits, while Hunter Hamers suffered the loss on the mound in 5.1 innings of work.
The Saints – who entered the tournament ranked No. 3 in the Midwest Region – will find out their NCAA postseason fate late Sunday evening. Division III opening regionals are set to begin Thursday.
Playoff Schedule
Thursday, May 11 (Day One)
Game 1 – No. 2 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 3 Minnesota Morris, 7-4 |
Box Score |
UMM Recap |
BLC Recap |
Game 2 – No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 4 Wisconsin-Superior, 12-2 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
UWS Recap |
Friday, May 12 (Day Two)
Game 3 – No. 4 Wisconsin-Superior def. No. 3 Minnesota Morris, 12-11 |
Box Score |
UMM Recap |
UWS Recap |
Game 4 – No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 2 Bethany Lutheran, 10-1 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
BLC Recap |
Game 5 – No. 2 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 4 Wisconsin-Superior, 8-6 |
Box Score |
BLC Recap |
UWS Recap |
Saturday, May 13 (Day Three)
Game 6 – No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 2 Bethany Lutheran, 8-0 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
BLC Recap |
2017 Tournament Page