Six players had at least two hits and senior Jon Ringblom was stellar on the mound, as the Buena Vista baseball team opened NCAA Regional Tournament play on Wednesday night with a commanding 7-1 victory over fourth-seed St. Scholastica.

The Saints had their biggest threat in the first inning, getting the first two runners on, but Ringblom battled back with three straight strikeouts to end the inning.

BVU broke a scoreless game in the third when sophomore Tanner Truesdell singled up the middle to score senior Weston Foxx from third.

The Beavers then broke the game open in the fourth with three runs on four two-out hits. Sophomore Neil Marshall walked to start the rally and then stole second.  Sophomore Brandon Wessels drove him in with a single to left and then advanced to third on a single from senior Joe Paletta.  Foxx then came through with a single of his own to drive home Wessels before Lambert singled home a run to make it 4-0.

That was more than enough for Ringblom who didn't allow another base runner until the seventh.  By that time, BVU had added insurance runs in the fifth sixth and seventh innings to push its margin to 7-0.

Ringblom came back out for the eighth and was relieved by Lucas Hadaway with two outs in the inning.  He finished the game allowing just one unearned run in the eighth, while surrendering just four hits and striking out 10.  Hadaway walked one and struck out one over his 1.1 innings.

Foxx went 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored.  Truesdell was one of five players to post two hits, as he also chipped in with two RBI.  Paletta and Lambert each doubled in the contest and finished with two hits apiece.

As a team, BVU out-hit the Saints, 15-4, in the contest. St. Scholastica had won 20 games entering the tournament.

Marshall also turned in two hits and moves within four of matching the school's single-season record.  Paletta broke a school record with his 171st career game played and his 165th career start moved him into a tie for second.

Austin Colvard had two of the Saints' four hits in the contest.  BVU roughed up starter Andy Davis for five runs over five innings.  Davis came into the game having walked just seven and striking out 58 batters all season in 67.2 innings.  He posted three walks and just one strikeout in this contest.

Buena Vista improves to 37-7 on the year and has now won nine straight games for the third time this season.  The Beavers will move on to face second-seed St. Thomas on Thursday night at 7:00pm.  The Tommies had to rally from a 2-1 deficit and score three runs in the eighth inning against Rose-Hulman to win 4-2.