04/24/07

Saints starting pitcher Chad Weiss was nearly perfect in his 5-0 one-hit shutout of Northland College in the nightcap of a twin bill in Ashland, Wis., on Tuesday that gave the Saints a sweep of the LumberJacks.

Weiss, 2-1 after chalking up the win, faced two batters over the minimum allowing only a walk -- his only one of the day -- in the first and a harmless single in the second while striking out 10. He put the 'Jacks down in order over the final five innings for the complete game victory.

St. Scholastica improved to 10-0 in the UMAC and 24-4 overall with the doubleheader sweep while Northland fell to 3-8 in the conference and 4-16 overall.

The Saints bats took a little longer to get started in game two -- after scoring five runs in the first two innings of game one -- but eventually got to Northland starter Andy Finco in the third inning.

Both Weiss and Blake Eller scored to give Weiss a two run cushion heading into the bottom half of the third inning.

Sean Claugherty walked and later came around to score on a Kyle Wojtysiak sacrifice fly in the sixth to push the lead to 3-0, and the Saints capped the day with two more in the top half of the seventh on a Steve Kraushaar two-run blast that brought in Eller who had just doubled of reliever John Strausser.

Eller and Kraushaar both finished with two hits in the win. Eller scored twice while Kraushaar picked up three RBI and scored once.