Iron-arm Xavier hurler Erin Drahozal racked up two more wins Tuesday night to match the pair she picked up the day before as the Saints swept a twinbill at home over Iowa City High, 3-2 and 11-3.

With back-up starter Jacey Wiebold nursing a tender arm, the rock-solid sophomore Drahozal is suddenly carrying the load on her strong shoulders.

She won three games in two days this past weekend, including one over Class 5A second-ranked Pleasant Valley.

On Monday night, she stymied Dubuque Wahlert twice as the Saints swept 3-2 and 11-3.

She’s now won her last seven starts (over a four-day stretch) to raise her record to 9-2.

“I  don’t usually pitch this much,” she said after throwing a full seven-inning complete game and following up with four more innings in the nightcap. “But with Jacey’s arm hurting, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t feel tired.

“We’ve been doing a lot of lifting, so I’ve gotten a lot stronger.”

First year Xavier head coach Nikki Price, who runs a fitness center in addition to her coaching duties, said she has no qualms about letting Drahozal do the heavy lifting for her team.

Drahozal limited City High to seven hits in Xavier’s 3-2 victory in the opener, then turned the mound over to Wiebold in the second game with a 6-1 lead.

The Saints erupted for five runs in the sixth inning to claim the 11-3 rout.

“Erin was pitching well,” said Price, a one-time star at Alburnett and an assistant to former Saints Coach Brian Erbe. “She had a couple of miscues. But she was hitting her spots, throwing the
ball around and changing speeds."

Drahozal came into the night with an ERA barely over 2.00. And she continues to bang the ball on offense. Sporting a batting average of around .400, she was 4-dor-6 in Tuesday’s games.

“My mentality is that the only one that can beat me is myself,”  the slugging pitcher pointed out.

Still, it took fellow sophomore Morgan Breitbach to bail her out in the come-from-behind first-game victory.

Drahozal got things started with a long single to the fence in left-center to score eighth-grade courtesy runner Hannah Helms in the first inning.

Led by sweet-swinging lefty Bryn Hanrahan (also an eighth grader), the Little Hawks rallied to take a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Xavier loaded the bases and Breitbach came to bat with two outs. On a 2-2 count, she poked a single up the middle into short center field that scored Allison Schwach from third and speed demon Helms from second to win the game.

“I didn’t even know it made it through the infield,” Breitbach said. “I was kind of nervous, but I got a pitch in my zone and was able to drive it through the middle.”

The nightcap was far less tense for the Saints and featured the heroics of ninth grader Jamie Feltes, whose three hits included a three-run home run in the sixth to cap the scoring.

Sydney Galligan was 4-for-4 to add to Xavier’s potent attack.

“I’d been in a little bit of a slump lately,” said Feltes. “That last time at bat, I was just trying to get a hit. I  wasn’t trying for a homer. But I got a pitch inside and jumped on it.”

The Saints, who are ranked eighth in Class 4A, improved their mark to 11-5 (8-4 MVC). The Little Hawks are 8-5 (7-3 MVC).

“I was real pleased,” said Price of the sweep. “Offensively, defensively and in the (pitching) circle, I thought we played very well.

“We made a few mental errors in the first game. But we answered back to win and then made some good adjustments in the second game.”