Xavier Baseball

Saints roll into 3A baseball playoffs

The Xavier Saints should be a confident baseball team when they enter the Class 3A district tournament Friday night.

The Saints ended the regular season on another high note Monday with a 7-3 victory over Clinton in a non-conference game at Ken Charipar Field.

The Saints have won nine of their last 11 games after a rugged start, but they'll need all the confidence they can muster in the 3A playoffs.

Xavier (12-22-1) will face DeWitt Central (28-10) in the district opener Friday at approximately 7 p.m. in DeWitt, and waiting in the wings in the district finals is top-ranked Davenport Assumption.

If the Saints handle all that, they could face another tough opponent in the substate finals for a trip to the state tournament.

Xavier collected a methodical victory over Clinton Monday with a 12-hit attack and solid pitching from Adam Tvedt and Sam Meyers. Tvedt struck out eight batters and allowed three runs in five innings for the victory, then Meyers tossed two scoreless frames to finish the game.

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Meyers belts 2 slams for Saints

Sam Meyers had never hit a grand slam in a baseball game before Friday night.

Now he's done it twice.

Meyers belted two slams in the same game Friday as the Saints slaughtered Waterloo West, 24-0, in 3 1/2 innings in the nightcap of their Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader at Ken Charipar Field.

The Saints also coasted in the first game, 12-0, in 4 1/2 innings.

Meyers socked his first grand slam in the bottom of the first inning of the nightcap when the Saints scored 15 runs. With such a big early lead, Coach Bob Cataldo began emptying his bench and used a pinch-hitter for Meyers in the second inning.

"I didn't want him to get a big head," the coach joked later.

Cataldo had already decided to give Meyers another chance to hit in the third inning, and sure enough Meyers deposited another grand slam over the fence in left field for two slams and eight RBIs in one game.

Meyers really enjoyed that second trip around the bases, especially when he spotted his teammates gathered at home plate to greet him after his remarkable feat.

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Saints baseball splits with Tigers

CEDAR FALLS - Jake Guckenberger went 6-for-8 with a double and home run Tuesday as the Xavier Saints split a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader at Cedar Falls.

The Saints lost the first game, 9-8, and rebounded for an 11-2 victory in the nightcap behind a complete game by Sam Meyers.

Guckenberger went 3-for-4 in both games for Xavier. Nick Stark went 4-for-8 in the twinbill with a triple. Sean Murphy was 3-for-6 with a double.

The split left the Saints at 9-22-1 overall and 6-17-1 in the conference. Cedar Falls is 18-16 overall and 13-11 in the league.

Xavier visits Bettendorf on Wednesday.

Saints sweep Wahlert on Senior Night

Senior Night always feels better when your mother gets a red rose during the on-field ceremony and your ballclub wins a pair of games to boost its confidence near the end of the season.

That was the story for the Xavier Saints Friday night.

The Saints swept Dubuque Wahlert, 7-6 in eight innings and 11-0 in five innings, in a Mississippi Valley Conference twinbill at Ken Charipar Field.

All nine seniors on the Xavier roster got into the doubleheader and all nine contributed to the victories for the Saints, who are suddenly surging now with five wins in their last six games.

Senior Bryce Charipar, bothered by an injury earlier this year but healthy now, took a one-hitter into the fifth inning of the nightcap and was looking good, but Coach Bob Cataldo removed Charipar and gave seniors Ethan Holverson and Ben Kamin a chance to pitch in the lopsided victory before family and friends on Senior Night.

"They deserved it," said Cataldo, in his first year as Xavier's head coach. "These seniors have been doing everything we've asked since February. They're there at every workout, doing everything possible.

"They might not have Division I skills," he said, "but they've got Division I heart."

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