Saint Mary holds off Benedictine 10-8 in Atchison baseball showdown

Benedictine turned Olsen Stadium into a tense spring afternoon, but Saint Mary left Atchison with the bigger swing when the Spires held off the Ravens 10-8 in a non-conference game that stayed alive deep into the ninth inning.

The first pitch came at 3 p.m. on April 22 under partly sunny, windy conditions, with Clint Baxter working home plate and Mike Reeds at first base. Benedictine struck first when Martin tripled to left-center and later scored on an RBI single by Hintz, a start that suggested the Ravens could set the tone early at home.

Saint Mary answered in the second inning and kept pressing whenever Benedictine moved ahead. Tannen Buss delivered the biggest early response for the Spires, driving in runs with a two-run single in the third and later a sacrifice fly in the sixth as Saint Mary rebuilt its lead. Cooper Stein earned the win for Saint Mary after working five innings, allowing seven hits and six runs while striking out four and throwing 90 pitches through Benedictine’s biggest push.

The Ravens made their best run in the middle innings. Benedictine put together a four-run fifth inning to erase an early deficit, and the box score showed how little separated the teams from there, with Saint Mary finishing with 15 hits and Benedictine with 13. Martin finished with four hits and two runs scored for Benedictine, while Sparks drove in four runs to keep the Ravens within reach.

Saint Mary’s answer came quickly enough to matter. The Spires reclaimed the lead after the fifth and then added another run in the ninth, with Ian Maldonado going three for the day, scoring three times and supplying the decisive insurance RBI single. Benedictine still had life, scoring once in the seventh and once in the eighth to trim the margin to 9-8 before Saint Mary closed it out. Jacob Rehkow recorded the save, and Johnny Andrews took the loss.

For Benedictine, now 22-21, the result was a reminder that a productive offense can still be wasted when the pitching staff cannot finish a game against a quality opponent. For Atchison, the draw mattered because college baseball remains part of the city’s rhythm, and matchups like this keep Olsen Stadium in the local conversation. The teams have been trading close, high-scoring results for more than a season, including Saint Mary’s 13-8 loss in Leavenworth on March 9 and a 10-9 game at Benedictine in 2025. Saint Mary entered at 15-32 overall and 9-24 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, but its performance in Atchison showed a team still capable of pushing a stronger record into a one-run fight.