05/04/07

Starter Chad Weiss toyed with a perfect game until a walk in the sixth inning spoiled the rare achievement and a one-out single ruined his no-hit bid in the final inning.

Still, Weiss’ fourth win of the season against only one loss was yet another stellar outing from the Saints senior who already has a one-hitter to his credit this season and pitched his fifth start in a row without surrendering a run – either earned or unearned.

Weiss got things started at the plate for St. Scholastica as well when his lead-off single in the bottom of the first resulted in the first run of the game as he scored on a Keith Ritsche sac fly for a 1-0 lead.

A big second inning unofficially ended the game as St. Scholastica sent 14 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs, all charged to Presentation starter Joe Heidelberger (4-2) who took the loss.

The way Weiss was pitching, his own run in the first was good enough, though.

Steve Kraushaar, Brandon Swartz, Sean Claugherty, and Kyle Wojtysiak joined Weiss with multi-hit games for the Saints each collecting two in the rout.

Swartz collected three RBI with a double and a triple while Ritsche added two more RBI to the one from his first inning sacrifice flyout with a two-RBI single in the monster second inning.

St. Scholastica (31-6, 16-1 UMAC) clinches their 11th consecutive regular season UMAC title with the win along with the top seed in next week’s UMAC postseason tournament in Duluth.

Presentation (17-14, 12-6 UMAC) and St. Scholastica go at it again on Saturday afternoon in the final two games of the conference regular season. The doubleheader between the two Saints squads is scheduled for a noon start at Wade Stadium.