LE MARS — St. Edmond head baseball coach Jordan Miller asked his players what they thought their record this week could wind up being with five games on the docket.

The players came to a consensus that they could go 4-1, which is exactly what they did with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Le Mars Gehlen here Saturday at the CYO Tournament.

“It’s so great to see them put something out there like that and go and achieve it,” Miller said. “The coaches thought that might be tough to achieve, but they wanted it. This group is focused and playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

Earlier in the day, the Gaels (6-5 overall) dropped a 13-0 decision to fourth-ranked (Class 3A) Bishop Heelan.

The big hit for St. Edmond vs. Le Mars Gehlen came in the fifth when Julian Blanco scored Blake Bartlett with a double to left that made it 5-2. Gehlen would answer back, but Jack McElroy closed the door with two strikeouts in the seventh.

Bartlett got the start, working four-plus with four strikeouts and just four hits allowed. Thomas Ehn came on and pitched two innings, as none of the runs scored by Gehlen were earned.

“I think our pitching is a little ahead of where we expected at this point,” Miller said. “We need our offense to come out and throw that first punch. They have kind of been waiting to get hit in the mouth before responding, which they have really done a great job of.”

Grant Galles finished 2-for-2 with two runs scored and a stolen base, Coltin Fevold drove in two and Blanco had the RBI.

“It was great to see Julian step in there, put his foot down and smash that ball,” Miller said. “He’s had some struggles here in the early going, but we know he’ll get locked in.”

Bartlett had two hits vs. Heelan, who took advantage of three St. Edmond errors to put up a big seven-run third that broke the game open. The freshman made the all-tournament team.

The Gaels return to North Central Conference play with a doubleheader Monday night at Rogers Park vs. Clear Lake beginning at 5 p.m.