For the fourth consecutive game, the Aquinas baseball team scored double-digit runs, doing so again on Monday afternoon (Apr. 5) in a 20-2 non-conference victory over Saint Xavier (Ill.) in Chicago. The Saints led 9-0 in the second inning and cruised to the lopsided victory.
 
AQ has been on quite an offensive tear lately, plating 66 runs over its last four games. The 20 runs on Monday were less than two weeks after a 19-run outing at Bethel on Mar. 24. Aquinas had not scored 10 or more runs in four straight games since doing so on Apr. 16-17, 2016 in a four-game series against Marygrove.
 
With the blowout victory, AQ moves to 16-10 on the season, while Saint Xavier drops to 15-14 overall. Aquinas has defeated SXU in four out of five meetings this season.
 
The Saints outhit the Cougars 18-3 and got going right away, as Nick Brzezinski smacked a leadoff solo homer to start the game. Braden Nawrocki notched an RBI single to make it 2-0 and Brzezinski was able to come to bat again in the first inning, smacking a two-run double to score Chris Suriel Garcia and Michael Maher for the 6-0 lead.
 
AQ made it a 9-0 cushion with an RBI triple from Alec Lockwood and a Nawrocki solo roundtripper in the second inning. The Saints built on their lead by scoring runs on sacrifice flies (including a foul out sacrifice fly), groundouts, SXU fielding errors, and even on a wild pitch from a swinging strikeout.
 
Aquinas scored four runs in the fifth, two more in the sixth, and five in the seventh. Lucas Weinert, Brzezinski, Alex Strickland, and Joseph Kelley all collected RBI singles over the final three innings and Nathan Hughes posted an RBI double, as well. 
 
12 Saints notched a hit, led by Brzezinski's 3-for-5, three-run, five-RBI effort. He doubled and homered in the win. Hughes finished 3-for-3 and scored three times, while adding a pair of doubles. Along with his homer, Nawrocki was 2-for-3 with two ribbies. Lockwood finished 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored.
 
Six Saints pitched in the seven-inning win, allowing just two runs on three hits. Travis Keys struck out all three batters he faced and Ben Snider and Conor Gausselin also tossed hitless innings of relief. Nathan Myers (2-0) earned the victory with two perfect innings. 
 
The Saints had not reached the 20-run mark since Apr. 11, 2006 in a 24-7 victory over Calvin. The school record is 26 runs against Philadelphia Textile on Mar. 5, 1995.
 
AQ travels to Fort Wayne on Wednesday (Apr. 7) for a WHAC twinbill against Indiana Tech. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.