St. Scholastica (Minn.) 8, Beloit (Wis.) 1
La Crosse, Wis. – The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) avoided elimination Thursday morning at the NCAA Division III Baseball Midwest Regional at Copeland Park with a 8-1 victory over Beloit College (Wis.). St. Scholastica (Minn.) improves to 32-10 on the season and will play Friday, May 20 at 1:15 p.m. against the loser of the Concordia University Chicago (Ill.)/ Luther College (Iowa) game scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Beloit (Wis.) ends its season at 27-14.
St. Scholastica (Minn.) scored four runs on four hits in the top of the fourth to grab early control. Brian Minks opened the frame with a double down the left field line, followed by a Steven Neutzling single to put runners on the corners. Conor Wollenzien walked to load the bases followed by a two-run double from Trevor Bernsdorf to make it 2-0. With two outs, Drew Colvard singled to center, driving in Bernsdorf and Wollenzien to give the Saints a 4-0 advantage.
Beloit (Wis.) tallied its run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Joey Casa doubled to center to start the inning. With one out, Kam Sallee singled to left, and a fielding error allowed Casa to score from second to cut the lead to 4-1.
In the Saints half of the sixth, Wollenzien doubled to right followed by a Bernsdorf walk. Chris Olson hit a sacrifice bunt, advancing the runners, and after Jake Kuschke was hit-by-pitch to load the bases, Drew Colvard singled through the left side, scoring Wollenzien and Bernsdorf to make it 6-1.
St. Scholastica (Minn.) added two more run in the ninth. Drew Colvard singled, followed by an Austin Colvard bunt single. Al Marolt sacrificed the runners to second and third with a bunt. Drew Colvard scored on a sacrifice fly from Minks, and a throwing error allowed Austin Colvard to score on the play, making the final 8-1.
Martin Alcoverde (5-1) earned up the complete-game win for St. Scholastica (Minn.), giving up one unearned run on five hits in 9.0 innings. He struck out four and walked two. It was his second complete-game of the season.
Drew Colvard went 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run for the Saints while Austin Colvard was 3-for-5, also scoring once. Minks had two hits, including a double and an RBI while Bernsdorf finished with a double and two RBI.
Ryan Kaveney (8-4) suffered the complete-game loss for Beloit (Wis.). He gave up eight runs (seven earned) on 12 hits in 9.0 innings, striking out four and walking three. It was his seventh complete-game of the season. Casa went 2-for-4 with a double and scored the only run for the Buccaneers.
