Notables
-Fifth meeting between the Saints and Vikings in the UMAC Tournament championship, first since 2011
-Bernsdorf's hit streak (23) and reached base streak (37) ends
-CSS extends home winning streak to 47 games
DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica baseball team won its 18th consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament championship on Saturday, defeating Bethany Lutheran College 3-0 at Wade Stadium.
With the victory the Saints receive the conference's automatic qualifier into next week's NCAA Division III Tournament. CSS will be making its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance, its 11th in a row.
Saturday's championship game proved to be a pitcher's duel between Jordan Risse of St. Scholastica and Nick Dewanz of Bethany Lutheran as both teams had a combined five hits through the first five innings.
The game would be scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when a fielding error leading off the inning would prove costly. The Saints got a RBI groundout from Trevor Bernsdorf to plate Padraic Getchell, who reached on the error, to make it 1-0.
After allowing a pair of hits in the top of the first, Risse settled in not allowing another hit until the top of the sixth. The Vikings would strand a runner at second in the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Brian Minks doubled to right and Tyler Duex tried to score all the way from first, but was thrown out at the plate. However, Steven Neutzling followed with a RBI single up the middle to plate Minks and give CSS a 2-0 lead.
The Saints added insurance in the bottom of the eighth when Duex tripled with two outs and Minks then beat out an infield single to make it 3-0.
The Vikings, who only had two runners in scoring position through the first eight innings, made things interesting in the ninth, loading the bases with one out. Freshman Jake Turner would get a big strikeout on an 11-pitch at-bat for the second out of the inning. CSS then went to senior Zack Farmer, who struck out the final batter in four pitches to give the Saints the 3-0 victory.
Risse went eight innings, striking out five and allowing only five hits to earn the victory. Farmer picked up his third save of the season. Dewanz went 7.2 innings, scattered eight hits and allowed two earned runs in the loss for Bethany. Minks and Neutzling combined for four of St. Scholastica's eight hits.
The Saints (32-11) will find out who and where they will be playing a NCAA Regional next week, late Sunday night/early Monday morning. Check csssaints.com for that information when it comes available.