Xavier got a pick me up when it needed it most Friday night.

Adam Pick singled home two insurance runs in the opener, then fanned five of the six batters he faced for a save in the nightcap, leading the Saints to a doubleheader sweep of Jefferson at the J-Hawk diamond.

Xavier won the opener, 5-3, then took the nightcap, 3-1.

The teams came into the doubleheader tied for second place in the Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division with 8-6 marks.

"These were really important games for us," said Xavier senior Mack Mattke, who earned a save in the opener when he also swatted a home run and was 3-for-5 in the doubleheader. "We haven't been struggling, but we have let a few games get away down the stretch. We did a good job of closing these games out."

Pick's two-run single in the top of the seventh broke a 2-2 tie in the opener and the Saints (15-8, 10-6) added another run. Christian Knox hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh for Jefferson (10-15, 8-8).

Xavier led 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth in the nightcap. The J-Hawks had runners at second and third with one out when Pick, a hard-throwing southpaw, came on in relief of Zach Brown, who limited the J-Hawks to two hits over 5 1/3 innings.

Pick got Austin Goodell to foul off a squeeze bunt on strike three for his first strikeout, then fanned Colten Jourdan to end the inning.

The Saints tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh on Luke Hammerberg's RBI single.

Pick walked Sam Techau leading off the bottom of the seventh, then fanned Ky Kramer, Ben Koering and Dylan Jellison to end the game.

"We've had a ton of games where we haven't been getting 1-2-3 innings and you have to get those to win games," Xavier Coach Dave Schemmel said. "Tonight we got them. Our pitchers did a good job of keeping the ball down, which really helped."

Xavier pitchers limited the J-Hawks to seven total hits. Jefferson rapped out 25 hits in sweeping a doubleheader from No. 7 Iowa City West on Monday, and the J-Hawks came into the game on a five-game winning streak.

"We knew Jeff had a good running going and they beat West," said Xavier junior Corbin Woods, who scattered five hits over 6 2/3 innings in the opener and earned the win.  "They always play us tough.

"The pitching was extremely good for us."

Xavier took a 1-0 lead in the first game when Mattke smacked an opposite-field home run to right-center.

"I let the ball get in deep and went the other way," he said. "They were throwing me a lot of off-speed away."

Jefferson took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back squeeze bunts by Goodell and Jourdan with the bases loaded.

"I was a little shocked by the second one," admitted Woods.

The Saints tied the game in the top of the sixth when Jourdan, the Jefferson catcher, tried to pick off pinch runner Reggie Schulte at third base. The throw hit Schulte and bounced away for a run-scoring error.

Jefferson loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but pinch hitter Austin Weidenhamer grounded out to short to end the inning.

That set the stage for Pick's heroics.

Jefferson also held a lead in the nightcap. Jellison's RBI single in the third inning put the J-Hawks ahead and the bases were loaded when Knox walked. But Brown struck out Dee and got Chance Tiedtke on a ground out to end the inning.

"(Brown) thought he was a knuckleball pitcher, but we told him to stop throwing that thing and he's become a much better pitcher," Schemmel said.

The Saints claimed the lead in the fifth inning. Mattke doubled home Woods, who had reached on an error, and later scored on a passed ball. Both runs were unearned.

"It's a game of inches," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said. "Did we give our best effort and leave it all on the field? I think we did everything possible. We just didn't come through when we needed to. That's (Xavier) a quality club. If a couple things would have happened that could have gone the other way, maybe it would have been us walking out of here with two wins.

"This isn't a major setback. We kind of leveled off tonight, but we didn't take any steps backward. We just have to keep moving forward."

Jefferson hosts Waterloo West on Monday.

Xavier, meanwhile, has a doubleheader date at home with No. 1 Kennedy.

"Of course we want to win as many games as we can," Schemmel said. "But we have seven new ballplayers that weren't with us last year. More than anything I just want us to improve.

"Hopefully, our pitchers turned a corner tonight."

GAME ONE

XAVIER (5)
Bryce Grimm, cf, 3 0 1 0, Corbin Woods, p-1b, 3 0 0 0, Ryan Meaney, cr, 0 1 0 0, Adam Pick, dh, 4 0 1 2, Ben Helms, c, 0 0 0 0, Mack Mattke, 1b-p, 3 1 2 1, Reggie Schulte, pr, 0 1 0 0, Zach Brown, 3b, 3 0 2 1, Jordan Ratz, rf, 3 0 0 0, Jacob Harriott, lf, 3 0 0 0, Mitch Keller, ss, 2 1 0 0, Mitch St. Andrews, 2b, 2 1 0 0. Totals 26 5 6 4.

JEFFERSON (3)
Dylan Jellison, 2b-p, 4 0 0 0, Christian Knox, cf, 4 2 2 1, Jordan Dee, p-1b, 2 0 1 0, Aaron Gruwell, cr-pr, 0 1 0 0, Chance Tiedtke, lf, 3 0 1 0, Austin Goodell, rf, 1 0 0 1, Colten Jourdan, c, 2 0 0 1, Sam Techau, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Ky Kramer, ss, 2 0 0 0, Austin Weidenhamer, ph, 1 0 0 0, Layne Sullivan, dh, 3 0 1 0, Dylan Wright, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Ben Koering, p-2b 0 0 0 0. Totals 24 3 5 3.

Xavier       000 101 3 --  5  6  2
Jefferson   000 200 1 --  3  5  1

Woods, Mattke (7) and Helms. Dee, Koering (5), Jellison (7) and Jourdan. W - Woods. L - Koering. Sv - Mattke. HR - Mattke, Knox. SB - Brown.

GAME TWO

XAVIER (3)
Grimm, cf, 3 0 0 0, Woods, 3b-ss, 4 1 0 0, Pick, dh-p, 1 0 1 0, Keller, ss, 0 0 0 0, Schulte, pr, 0 0 0 0, Mattke, 1b, 2 1 1 1, Drew Scott, pr, 0 1 0 0, Brown, p-3b, 3 0 1 0, Ratz, rf, 4 0 1 0, Meaney, lf, 3 0 0 0, Luke Hammerberg, c, 3 0 1 1, Helms, cr, 0 0 0 0, St. Andrews, 2b, 3 0 2 0. Totals 26 3 7 2.

JEFFERSON (1)
Jellison, 2b, 4 0 1 1, Knox, cf, 2 0 0 0, Dee, 1b, 2 0 0 0, Tiedtke, lf, 2 0 0 0, Goodell, p-rf, 2 0 0 0, Gruwell, cr, 0 0 0 0, Jourdan, c-p, 3 0 0 0, Techau, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Kramer, ss, 3 1 1 0, Sullivan, rf, 1 0 0 0, Koering, c, 1 0 0 0. Totals 22 1 2 1.

Xavier           000 020 1 --  3  7  0
Jefferson      001 000 0 --  1  2  3

Brown, Pick (6) and Hammerberg. Goodell, Jourdan (6) and Jourdan, Koering (6). W - Brown. L - Goodell. Sv - Pick. 2B - Pick, Mattke. SB - Jellison.