PORTLAND, Ore. - Behind Brandon Witherspoon's five hits and Trevor Young's grand slam, Saint Martin's baseball split their doubleheader, 11-5 and 6-7, at Concordia University at Porter Park.

Game One

The Saints (9-15, 6-10 GNAC) began their 11 run performance with a bases-clearing double from first baseman Adam Eskil. Eskil scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from Witherspoon to give the Saints an early 4-0 edge in the first.

Concordia (6-20, 4-12) got on the board with a balk in the fourth inning, allowing the runner on the third to score.

Zach Raczok drove in the fifth run with a sacrifice fly to left center in the sixth before Kahi Hirano's triple extended the score to 6-1.

The Cavaliers answered back equally in the bottom half of the sixth with a two RBI single to center field.

Saint Martin's responded with a run of their of own in the seventh after Witherspoon singled through the left side to bring home Steven Sordahl. Concordia continued to cut into the score in the seventh with a RBI double and single, bringing them within 7-5.

The final nail in the coffin came in the ninth inning, with the bases loaded and two outs in the inning. Pinch hitter Trevor Young came through in the clutch with a grand slam, his first home run of the season. Luke Hare closed the door on the Cavaliers in the bottom of the ninth for the 11-6 victory.

Mickey Walker (2-3) got the ball for the Saints, earning the victory after throwing five innings, allowing three runs on nine hits, walking two and striking out four. Zach Stevenson came in for relief for two innings before Hare picked up his second save of the season on two innings, striking out two.

"In the first game, we gave them the opportunity to climb back in, but we got great innings out of our relief pitchers" said head coach Ken Garland. "Trevor Young came in and gave us a clutch hit to seal the victory".

Game Two

The Saints picked up where they left off in the first game with a five run second inning. Raczok got the inning started with a RBI single to right field before Isaac Hegamin drove in Witherspoon on a sacrifice fly. Alec Hagerman's RBI scored the third run of inning while Sordahl and Austin Feist each picked up a RBI to finish the five run second.

Concordia quickly added two runs in the bottom of the second on a double to left field. The Cavaliers tied the ballgame in the third with three runs, highlighted by a triple to right center and a double down the left field line.

Both teams remained quit over the next three and a half until the Cavaliers clinched the victory with a walk-off home run from right fielder Mitch Bevacqua.

Benjamin Wadowski got the start for the Saints, going 2.1 innings, allowing five runs on five hits while walking three and striking out one. Jacob Phipps pitched the next 1.2 innings, giving up three hits but no runs. Zach Stevenson followed up with a 1-2-3 sixth inning before Eskil (0-1) received his first loss on a 1.1 inning, three strike out performance. 

"We did a great job jumping out to early leads in both games" said Garland. "Pitching was inconsistent throughout the second game and that allowed them to hang around".

Up Next: The Saints finish up the four game series against Concordia with a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 1 p.m.