DULUTH, Minn. – The Yellowjacket baseball team found itself squaring off with a familiar opponent Wednesday, as it traveled across the bridge for an afternoon doubleheader against St. Scholastica. The games would be the third and fourth of the season between the Yellowjackets and the Saints.
 
St. Scholastica won the first two contests, and Wednesday they completed the regular season sweep.
 
The Saints rode big innings in each of the two games, taking the opener 13-9 before shutting out the Yellowjackets 11-0 in the second contest Wednesday.
 
After Wednesday's results, the Yellowjackets 911-17, 4-6 UMAC) are currently sitting fifth in the UMAC, occupying the fifth and final conference tournament spot.
 
Game One
St. Scholastica put up two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but the Yellowjackets got singles runs in the second and third innings to tie the game 2-2.
 
Mike Rodriguez (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech) got the scoring started for the Yellowjackets, singling to left center and scoring Isaac Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) in the second. Then in the third inning Ryan Castaneda (San Pedro, Calif./Junipero Serra) plated Alex Aguilar (Simi Valley, Calif./Westlake ) on a ground out, tying the game 2-2.
 
In the bottom of the third, however, the Saints took the lead for good, scoring three runs. They added three more in the fourth to move ahead 8-2 before the Yellowjackets had a big inning to close the gap.
 
Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) led off the top of the fifth with a home run over the wall in right center field. Two hitters later Bruce Flanagan doubled to right center, scoring pinch runner Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) to make it an 8-4 game. Castaneda drove in Flanagan with a double to right, then moved to third when Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) singled to put runners on the corners. Garcia promptly stole second, and both runners came home when Nick Zezulka (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) singled to left, pulling the Yellowjackets to within one at 8-7.
 
The Saints put up three more runs in the sixth, but the Yellowjackets answered in the seventh when Zezulka scored on a Rolf single to right, making the score 11-8.
 
St. Scholastica got that run back in the bottom of the inning, but once again the Yellowjackets answered. In the top of the eighth Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) brought home pinch runner Nolan Wolf (Parker, Colo./St. Anthony Village), getting the Yellowjackets back to within three at 12-9.
 
The Saints added another run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 13-9. The Yellowjackets mounted a mild threat in the top of the ninth, getting two men on with one out, but they were unable to bring anyone home and lost the opener by four.
 
Rolf, Flanagan and Zezulka all had three hits for the Yellowjackets, who pounded out 18 as a team.
 
Joey Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) got the start on the mound in the opener for the Yellowjackets, going 3.1 innings and allowing eight runs on seven hits. He was tagged with the loss, and his record dropped to 0-3 on the year. Dante Bender (Gurney, Wis./Hurley), Matt Tappe (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) and Brenden Kruger (Cottage Grove, Minn./Hastings) all pitched in relief.
 
Game Two
It was all Saints in the second game, as they got to Yellowjacket starter Flanagan with a big first inning, scoring seven times to build an insurmountable lead. The seven runs would be all the offensive production in the game until the eighth inning when the Saints added four runs to end the contest.

The Yellowjackets were only able to muster two hits in the game – a triple by Nick Shea (Pengilly, Minn./Greenway) leading off the second and a one-out single by Rhodes in the fourth.
 
Flanagan lasted two-thirds of an inning and suffered the loss, falling to 1-3 on the year. Jack Barnett (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) also pitched two-thirds of an inning before giving way to Garcia, who pitched the final 6.1 innings.
 
Next up for the Yellowjackets is a doubleheader with Crown College Saturday, May 1. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.