Jessica Bren has been tormenting teams all season and she did it again on Wednesday. The freshman phenom powered the University of Minnesota Duluth to a pair of victories over Mercyhurst University and Saint Anselm College. Bren went five-for-six with a triple, two home runs for five RBI in the two games. She also drew a walk, stole five bases and scored four runs.

For the season, Bren is hitting .429 with a team-high eight home runs for 19 RBI. The Chanhassen, Minn., native has a 1.000 slugging percentage which leads the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. She also leads the NSIC in homers. 

The Bulldogs fed off Bren's hot bat to defeat the Lakers 11-1 in five innings and the Hawks 5-1 in the nightcap. UMD has won the last seven games and moved to 13-3. The PFX Athletics Spring Games continues to be kind to the maroon-and-gold as the Bulldogs are 41-9 lifetime and 15-3 in the last two seasons.

UMD easily dismantled Mercyhurst (1-11) in the shorten game. The Bulldogs raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first. Senior second baseman Natalie Wright crushed her first homer of the year down the right field line. Her ball was still rising as it cleared the fence to give UMD a 2-0 lead. Bren tacked on another run on a triple to right. Sophomore third baseman Lauren Oberle also tripled down that same line to plate Bren. Junior left fielder Sammi Sadler and senior center fielder Hannah Schmoll drove in the other two runs before the Lakers could stop the barrage.

Senior shortstop Becky Smith lifted her sixth home run of the season after successful back-to-back bunts by Schmoll and Wright in the third inning. Later with two in scoring position, freshman Jordyn Thomas squeezed one past the right side to bring UMD to a comfortable 10-run lead. The Bulldogs banged out 13 hits and had eight players tally a hit.

Bren had a three-hit afternoon but it was her bat against Saint Anselm that paid dividends. Each team held one another in-check for four innings. The only mistake the Hawks (9-6) made was leaving a ball up in the zone for Bren to send over center field fence. 

They didn't seem to earn their lesson.

Bren sent a towering shot to right on a three-run blast in the fifth to open to lead to 4-0 and Saint Anselm would pitch around her the rest of the evening.

Thomas was sent in to pitch hit in the sixth and didn't disappoint head coach Jen Walter. Thomas gave UMD another insurance run for good measure, this time sliding it past the shortstop and third baseman.

The Hawks would score in the bottom of seventh but couldn't solve junior Valerie Hohol, who improved to 6-1 on the season. Hohol went the distance in the circle, giving up six hits while striking out seven. Sophomore Breanna Swint gave up one unearned run in her outing against the Lakers. The pitching was been downright dominant the last 37 innings as the staff has allowed two earned runs during that span.

The Bulldogs conclude THE Spring Games tomorrow with a pair of late-night games against Long Island University Post and Georgian Court University. Both games will be played at Hancock Park in Clermont, Fla.