04/27/07

Twice in the first two innings the Saints pushed runs across the plate with two outs to break on top of visiting Martin Luther College on their way to an 11-3 win over the Knights at Wade Stadium on Friday afternoon.

Steve Kraushaar and Sean Claugherty each singled and came around to score with two outs in the first, and Mike Lewis’ two out walk led to his coming in to score in the second to put the Saints up 3-1.

The big inning for St. Scholastica (26-5, 12-1 UMAC) came in the third when they sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs on Martin Luther (5-24, 3-12 UMAC) starting pitcher Justin Hansen who took the loss and dropped to 0-5 for the season.

Claugherty reached on an error to lead off the inning and was followed by consecutive hits from Chad Weiss, Jake Gaub, and Darin Carlson that scored the first three runs in the inning. Brandon Swartz’ sacrifice fly brought in the fourth run and then a double by Kraushaar picked up the final two.

Senior starting pitcher Eric Hagen enjoyed the run support his teammates were offering up and surrendered only a pair of runs through five innings, picking up the win on the mound for the Saints to improve to 4-0 on the year.

The Knights scored one off Hagen in the second on two balls that barely cleared the first baseman’s head and a single through a hole on the right side on a missed pickoff attempt. They scored again in the fifth with a double that followed a walk.

Brandon Fritz came on in relief of Hagen to start the sixth and allowed one run over the final four innings, striking out four and walking one.

Kraushaar collected three RBI and scored a run in a 3-for-4 performance by the junior left fielder. Sean Tracy had the only other multi-hit game for the Saints (2-for-2) as St. Scholastica used 21 different players in the romp.

The Saints and Knights will close out the season series with a doubleheader starting at Noon on Saturday afternoon in Wade.