Saints Baseball

Earlier this year, I wrote about the upcoming season for the Saints baseball team, now it's time for an update. Though the weather hasn't felt like baseball season, the Saints are already 18 games into their 2007 season. After starting off their season with just 2 wins in their first 5 games, the Saints have now rattled off 15 wins in a row, pushing their record to 17-3 overall, and 5-0 in the young Upper Midwest Athletic Conference season.

Starting off the year 2-0 with two wins over Bethel College, the Saints then lost their next 3 games to national powers UW-Stevens Point, St. Thomas and Penn State-Behrend respectively. Their last loss to Behrend came in the first game of a nine game stretch of games played in Florida over Spring Break. Rebounding after losing their opening game of the trip, the Saints won the last 8 games of their trip, most coming in convincing fashion, including a 33-3 rout of Cazenovia College out of New York.

Since returning from Florida, games have been hard to come by due to weather conditions, with several games getting postponed. The Saints home opener, scheduled for today, has been pushed back due to the field conditions. In the few games the Saints have been able to play, they have remained on their hot streak. They have continued their dominance of UMAC opponents, including a 24-3 victory over UM-Morris.

Leading the Saints on their early season run has been junior Blake Eller who is hitting .451, with 3 home runs, and 33 runs batted in. Not far behind him are seniors Brandon Schwartz and Chad Weis who are both hitting over .400 on the season. Leading the Saints on the mound has been senior Mark Moriarty with a 5-1 record and era of 2.48. A host of Saints pitchers are at 2-0, with the teams combined era an impressive 2.78.

Be sure to get out and support the Saints whenever their home opener actually happens. It is now scheduled to be this weekend, Friday at 3:00 and Saturday at 12:00 and 2:00 at Wade Stadium here in Duluth. The Saints will be taking on UMAC opponent Crown College, so get out their and support your team.