COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The UW-Superior baseball team handed Saint John's its first loss of the season with an 8-7 victory in game one of a doubleheader at Haugen Field and Becker Park Sunday.
 
The Johnnies (10-1) earned a split on the day with a 9-3 victory in the second game.
 
Saint John's is receiving votes in the latest D3baseball.com top 25 poll and had outscored the opposition 71-25 coming into play on Sunday. The Yellowjackets got multiple-hit outings from the Nos. 2-5 hitters in the order, including 3-for-5 efforts from both Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) and Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd), spearheading a 15-hit attack in the game one win.
 
Joey Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) gave UWS (7-5) a solid four-inning start on the mound, limiting SJU to four runs and six hits before giving way to Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) and Matt Tappe (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village), who threw the final four innings, earning the victory.
 
The 'Jackets scored first when Rolf ripped a one-out triple down the right-field line and Flanagan chased him home with a single up the middle for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Saint John's responded in bottom of the inning with a single through the left side by Soren Roe to knot the game.
 
St. John's made it 4-1 with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, all with two out. Barker retired the first two hitters with a fly out and strikeout, respectively, before issuing a walk to Zach Selchow. Justin Langer followed with an RBI double to left-center field, scoring Selchow. The next batter, Matt Hayford, singled to third and moved to second on an errant throw from Flanagan that allowed Langer to come home. Rodney Erickson then doubled down the left-field line to score Hayward.
 
UWS came back with five in the top of the fifth to regain a 6-4 lead. The first four batters in the inning reached as Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) and Flanagan walked sandwiching a Rolf single. Nick Shea (Pengilly, Minn./Greenway) then came up with an infield single to third that scored Rhodes. 
 
Ryan Castaneda (San Pedro, Calif./Junipero Serra) followed with an RBI groundout and Nick Zezulka (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game, 4-4. The 'Jackets weren't done, though, as Isaac Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) picked up a single and moved up on a passed ball. Isaac Grothe (East Bethel, Minn./St. Francis) then reached on an error at shortstop that scored Fugere for the two-run lead.
 
Down 7-5 with two out the seventh, Saint John's tied the game with the help of a pair of errors on the same play, but UWS manufactured the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth.
 
Fugere started the inning reaching on a two-base error by Owen Dauk at second. Mike Rodriguez (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech) moved him to third with a rocket back at the pitcher. Then, with two out, Rhodes singled up the middle for the lead.
 
Tappe retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the ninth in order before an Andrew Mahlke single. Zezulka ended the game with a diving catch in left field on a sinking line drive by Trey Cavello.
 
Tappe scattered three hits and two unearned runs with two walks and one strikeout. Casey Trapp (0-1) worked the final two innings for the Johnnies, taking the loss. 
 
Castaneda (2-for-4, two RBIs) and Shea (2-for-5, run, RBI) were the other two Yellowjackets with multiple hits in game one.
 
The UWS victory snapped the 'Johnnies' 14-game winning streak dating to last season.
 
Superior struck first again in the second game, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with a two-run single to left center by Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) scoring Flanagan and Rolf, but the Johnnies came back with three in the second for the lead.
 
SJU tacked on single runs in the third and fourth innings and put the game out of reach with four more in the sixth for the final margin.
 
Rolf, Rhodes, McNosky and Iduan Nater (Arecibo, Puerto Rico/Vocacional Antonio Lucchetti) had Superior's four hits in the nightcap. Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) went the first four innings of the second game on the mound, allowing six hits and five runs (four earned), taking the loss to fall to 1-2 on the season. Jack Barnett (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) threw the last two frames, scattering three hits and four runs.
 
Lucas Ammons paced the Johnnies in game two, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and four driven in. 
 
UWS (7-5) next heads to Wade Stadium in Duluth to face St. Scholastica in a single, nine-inning game Monday. First pitch for the non-conference contest is slated for 4 p.m.