After struggling in the opener here on Monday, the St. Edmond baseball team made some adjustments and returned the favor against Clear Lake at Rogers Park.

The Gaels (7-6 overall, 3-5 in the North Central Conference) rolled to a 13-6 victory to split an NCC doubleheader against the Lions (5-6, 4-4). The Lions cruised to a 13-1 five-inning victory in the opener.

“We had to make some adjustments to our pitching staff in the first game,” said SEHS head coach Jordan Miller. “In the second game, we came out and wanted to get that one back.”

Miller has implemented the MVP belt, given to the star of the game. According to Miller, for the first time in his entire coaching career, the belt was given to the whole Gael squad.

“This was a total team effort,” Miller said. “If you had to give it to one guy, I don’t know who we would give it to.

“We had great at bats, we had good pitching and we had some stellar defensive plays.”

Jack McElroy (2-1) earned the win in the nightcap, as Kinnick Henning and Ethan Swisher saw relief action. The three Gael pitchers combined for seven strikeouts.

McElroy got off to a great start, retiring the first eight batters he faced.

The Gaels jumped on the Lions right away and never let up. They had a 6-0 advantage after three innings. The Lions plated three in the fourth to cut the advantage in half.

St. Edmond then went up 9-3 after a three run fifth. The Gaels clung to a 9-5 edge before breaking the game open with four runs in the final frame.

The entire lineup came up big to the tune of 15 hits. Through their first seven at-bats, the bottom three in the Gael order reached base five times and scored four runs.

The top five, meanwhile, had 13 hits in 20 at bats and drove in 12 runs.

Julian Blanco had a monster effort in the win. After getting out in his first at-bat, he had four straight hits and drove in two runs.

“Julian is smooth when he is on,” Miller said. “He has started to get his foot down and accelerate when he swings.”

Blake Bartlett was 3-for-4 with five RBI, including a two-run double and a two-run single.

“Blake has seen a lot of baseball and knows what he wants,” Miller said. “He hunts for the ball and is very aggressive at the plate.”

Coltin Fevold was 3-for-5 with a two-run triple to seal the victory in the seventh. He finished with three driven in.

Kinnick Henning had two hits and an RBI. Grant Galles also drove in a run.

It was a struggle in the opener for St. Edmond, which managed only four hits. Galles was 2-for-2.

The Gaels are back in action on Thursday when they host Emmetsburg at Rogers Park for a single contest at 1 p.m.

CLEAR LAKE 13, ST. EDMOND 1

Clear Lake 724 00 — 13 11 3

St. Edmond 100 00 — 1 4 5

WP–Jaxson Anderson (5IP, 4H, 1 ER, 12SO, 3BB); LP–Coltin Fevold (2.3IP, 10H, 5ER, 0SO, 2BB); 2B–CL: Anderson (2), Luke Fuhrman, Hudson Carney, Benjamin Vaske; Multiple hits–CL: Anderson (3), Keeton Jeeppeson (2), Carney (2); SE: Grant Galles; Multiple RBI–CL: Anderson (2), Carney (2), Ryder Stark (2); HBP–CL: Carney; SB–CL: Payne Nelson (2), Jeppeson, Anderson, Cayden Lester (2), Distworth, Carney, Ryder Ditsworth; SE: Jackson Calvert, Galles.

ST. EDMOND 13, CLEAR LAKE 6

St. Edmond 141 030 4 — 13 15 0

Clear Lake 000 311 1 — 6 5 4

WP–Jack McElroy (2-1, 3.6IP, 4H, 3 ER, 3SO, 5BB); LP–Payne Nelson (2IP, 6H, 5ER, 3SO, 3BB); 2B–SE: Blake Bartlett; CL: Tanner Nelson; 3B–SE: Coltin Fevold; CL: Jaxson Anderson; Multiple hits–SE: Julian Blanco (4), Fevold (3), Bartlett (3), Kinnick Henning (2); Multiple RBI–SE: Bartlett (5), Fevold (3), Blanco (2); CL: T. Nelson (2); HBP–SE: Ethan Swisher; CL: P. Nelson; SB–SE: Swisher, Carson Bargfrede; CL: P Nelson, Luke Fuhrman, Cayden Lester (3), Ryder Ditsworth, Hudson Carney; CS–SE: Henning.