BILLINGS, Mont. – The Saint Martin's University Saints baseball team swept a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader from Montana State Billings Sunday afternoon at Dehler Park.  With the losses, the Yellowjackets fell to 14-15 overall and 5-9 in conference play.  The surprising, league-leading Saints improved to 19-13 overall and 15-3 in conference play with wins of 9-6 and 6-5. The two teams are scheduled to complete the season series tomorrow at 12 p.m. with a doubleheader at Dehler Park.

The Yellowjackets were led by senior Jeff Ridgeway who hit 3 for 5 in the two games with three runs scored and one RBI.  Senior Jordan Kessler was 4 for 9 with a double and a run scored.  The Jackets hit .311 for the double dip on 19 of 61, but five costly errors led to six unearned runs.

SMU was led by Andrew Elke and Bobby Twedt who each had four hits to lead the team.  Twedt was 4 for 6 with three runs scored, while Elke was 4 of 9 with three runs scored and three RBI.

In the opener, the Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Yellowjacket miscue for a 1-0 lead.

The lead was short lived, however, as the Jackets tallied two runs in the bottom of the frame as sophomore Colby Robison belted a RBI double to left center and senior Sam Kinzeler singled home Robison for a 2-1 lead.

Four runs crossed the plate in the second for the Saints, highlighted by two RBI singles, a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly for a 5-2 advantage.

MSUB cut the deficit to 5-3 in the bottom of the third as junior Andy Ballinger belted a sacrifice fly to right scoring Ridgeway. 

Two more runs scored for the Saints in the sixth on another bases loaded walk and a bases loaded wild pitch for a 7-3 lead.  Saint Martin's swelled the lead to 9-3 in the seventh on a two RBI single.

MSUB wouldn't go down without a fight, however, as the Jackets battled back in the bottom of the seventh plating one run as Ridgeway singled up the middle scoring Kessler for a 9-4 deficit.  Two more runs crossed the plate in the eighth highlighted by a RBI groundout by sophomore Austin Rue and a sacrifice fly to center by freshman Dillon Ness scoring senior Chris Stine for a 9-6 score.

Yellowjacket starting pitcher, Kody Kennedy, took the loss as he fell to 2-5 on the year going 5.2 innings surrendering seven hits, seven runs – six earned, five walks and he fanned five.  SMU starter, Michael McIver, went six innings allowing 10 hits, four earned runs, three walks and he struck out six.  Kaleb Wilson picked up his seventh save of the year pitching the ninth for the Saints.

MSUB jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second as junior Riley Rosvold singled home junior Zach Smith helped out by a SMU miscue.  Later in the inning, Ness singled home two runs and was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double for a 3-0 lead.

SMU tallied a run in the top of the third, but the Jackets added two more in the bottom of the frame for a 5-1 lead.  Kinzeler flied out to center scoring Ridgeway, followed by Ballinger who reached on an error scoring Robison. 

The Saints' comeback began with single-inning runs in the fifth and sixth, followed by the eventual game-winning runs in the seventh.  SMU plated three runs in its final at bat to take a 6-5 lead.  After getting the first out, the Jackets had an unfortunate thing happen as Robison fired a throw to first and Kinzeler's glove broke allowing Blaine Evans to reach base on the error and plating a run for a 5-4 lead.  Aaron Johnson came up with the game-winning hit with a two run single through the right side on a 1-2 count.

MSUB had one final chance in the bottom of the frame.  Kessler reached on an error, followed by a sacrifice bunt to move him into scoring position.  Senior Jonathon Crews pinch-ran for Kessler and moved to third on a very close groundout by Robison at first.  With two out, Wilson came up with a strikeout to end the game.

Yellowjacket senior pitcher, Jacob Vulk, had one of his best outings of the season going 5.1 innings allowing six hits, three runs – two earned, one walk and he struck out two.  Vulk didn't factor into the decision as senior Archie Smith went 1.2 innings allowing three hits, three unearned runs and he fanned two to fall to 4-2 on the year.

SMU reliever Sean Meehan (1-1) earned the win in just 0.2 innings of work, while Wilson picked up his eighth save of the season.

With the two wins by SMU, the Saints now have won 10-straight in the series and lead the all-time series 25-4.  MSUB's last win came Mar. 7, 2010, in Lacey, Wash., with a 7-1 win.  The Jackets have not won at home against the Saints since a 9-5 win on Mar. 20, 2009.  SMU now leads 11-1 all-time in Billings.