DULUTH, Minn.: In an effort to get out front of what is being tagged as an historic winter storm, the Yellowjacket baseball team's scheduled doubleheader was moved up a day, and Tuesday afternoon they did battle with arch rival St. Scholastica at Duluth's venerable Wade Stadium. Coming on the heels of Sunday's sweep at the hands of Crown, the Yellowjackets were seeking an and to a three-game losing streak and in the process pick up their first UMAC wins of the year.

Things looked good early Tuesday, with the Yellowjackets going blow for blow with the Saints in the opener, only to see the hosts come back and get the win in extra innings. In the second game the Yellowjackets (6-12, 0-4 UMAC) scratched out a couple runs late, but it wasn't enough and St. Scholastica completed the sweep on the day.

Game 1
With the Yellowjackets leading by a run at 5-4, St. Scholastica came back to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when Eric Pearson homered to left field. Pearson finished the game with four hits in five at bats, and his round tripper set the stage for some extra innings heroics. With the game still tied 5-5 in the bottom of the tenth, James Fuerniss made his only at bat of the game count, sending a Mitch Coulson (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Hammarskjold) pitch over the wall to give the Saints a walk-off 7-5 win.

The Yellowjackets took the early lead when lead-off man Jordan Berrios (Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) scored on a Braden Barrr single in the top of the first. St. Scholastica would take their first lead of the contest in the bottom of the second, plating three runs to go up by two. The Yellowjackets would pull to within one in the top of the third when Berrios scored on a ground out. Two innings later Cory Albertson (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) would give the Yellowjackets the lead, launching his third home run of the season, a three-run shot scoring Berrios and Alec Rabin (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) to make it a 5-3 game.

Berrios scored three of the five runs in the game for the Yellowjackets and was one of four Yellowjackets with a two-hit game.

Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) got the start for the Yellowjackets and went 5.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out five. Zach Bennett (Corona, Calif./Santiago) came on in relief in the sixth inning and went 2.1 innings and allowed one run on two hits, but he had problems locating pitches and walked four. Coulson was tagged with the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits in 1.2 innings.

Game 2
Scoring was at a premium in the second game, as the teams went scoreless through three innings. For the second game in a row Pearson did major damage at the plate for the Saints, this time opening the scoring in the bottom of the fourth with his second home run of the day, a two-run shot to make it 2-0. Then in the sixth inning the Saints added two more on a Brad Fossum single to make it 4-0.

It stayed that way until the top of the ninth when the Yellowjackets were finally able to break through. Albertson led off the inning with a single and went to second on a Barr single. Momentum was slowed when the Saints erased pinch runner Alex Osness (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) on a double play, With two down Albertson came home on a passed ball to end the shutout bid. Things got even more interesting when Travis Miller (Whittier, Calif./La Serna) clubbed his third home run of the year, a solo shot to pull the Yellowjackets to within 4-2. Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) followed Miller's clout with a base hit, bringing the tying run to the plate, but the Saints retired Rabin to end the Yellowjacket comeback bid.

Miller had two hits for the second game in a row, as the Yellowjackets outhit the Saints 10-9. Flanagan and Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village) also had two hits in the contest.

Auggie Anderson (Mendota Heights, Minn./Henry Sibley) pitched one of the best games of his Yellowjacket career Tuesday, going the distance and allowing four earned runs on nine hits in the process. He walked just two and struck out seven.