AUSTIN, Texas – The trio of JOSEPH OLSON, NATE TURNER, and DYLAN WATTS combined to go 9-for-10 at the plate with six runs and 11 RBI as St. Edward's Baseball rolled past St. Mary's, 13-3, on Saturday afternoon, clinching the three-game sweep.
 
Olson was a perfect 3-for-3 with a double, scoring three runs and driving in five. Watts was also perfect at the plate with a home run and four RBI. Turner collected three hits as well, while scoring twice with two RBI. The Hilltoppers batted .451 as a team, and are now averaging over 12 runs a game in their last six contests.
 
On the mound, STUART SPRINGER earned his eighth win of the season. He only lasted 4.1 innings, but struck out four, and only allowed two earned runs. The senior was given the decision thanks to the run-rule shortened game. VINNY WHITENIGHT, BRYCE DAVIS, and CAM HATCH combined to provide one-hit shutout relief.
 
St. Edward's has now won seven-straight games, and holds a winning streak of five against the Rattlers over the last two seasons. The last time the Hilltoppers went 5-0 against St. Mary's was from 2007-08. They improve to 31-9 overall and 14-4 in the Heartland Conference. St. Mary's falls to 23-17 and 9-9.
 
"This is a pace our team can maintain if we keep our focus," said head coach Rob Penders. "We've faced good pitching the last couple of weeks, and we've been able to do this. There's no doubt we can do this, it's just a matter of us executing, and the last couple of weeks we've been executing."
 
The threat of rain forced a 30 minute delay to start the finale, but the wait did nothing to faze Springer on the mound. In his first two innings of work, the transfer from Virginia Tech struck out four of the first nine batters he faced, and held the Rattlers to one hit in three innings.
 
St. Edward's offense took Springer's start and gave him a lead to work with in the third inning. A walk to Olson led to a RBI-single for Watts to make it 1-0. Then, in the fourth, the Hilltoppers blew the game wide open, scoring five runs on four hits. Whitacre led off with a double, and Turner brought him home with a double of his own. Olson drove in two more with a single to center field, and Watts capped the scoring in his second at-bat of the inning with a two-RBI single.
 
St. Mary's used a three-run home run in the fifth to cut St. Edward's lead in half. However, six runs in the bottom of the frame, and one more in the sixth put the Rattlers in a hole they could not climb out of.
 
Coach Penders and his team remain at home for a critical regional matchup against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Tuesday. The Hilltoppers beat the Javelinas 14-1 earlier this season at Nolan Ryan Field. Tuesday's contest is set for a 2:30 start with live stats and video at GoHilltoppers.com.