University of St. Thomas Athletics
St. Olaf
Baseball bats quiet in 0-2 Sunday in MIAC playoffs
5/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
St. Thomas' bats went silent Sunday in Dundas as St. Olaf swept the Tommies and claimed the MIAC baseball playoff title. St. Olaf won 19-1 to force a rematch game, then won 8-0 to take the NCAA automatic berth.
The Tommies (31-11), the MIAC regular-season champ, will await Monday's announcement of the NCAA Division III regional field to see if they receive an at-large berth. The Toms are looking to advance to NCAA play for the 14th time in the last 15 seasons.
Senior All-American Todd Mathison went 7-for-10 with 10 RBI on the day to lead St. Olaf, which has won 13 of its last 15 games. The Oles slugged 17 hits in each game and have scored 180 runs in their last 17 games since mid-April.
Ben Hughes and Alex Sommer each had complete-game shutouts for St. Olaf on Sunday. The pair held UST to 14 singles and one double over 18 innings.
Game two marked the first shutout loss for UST in 10 seasons of the MIAC playoffs, covering 33 games. The Tommies came into the today with an eight-game win streak in the conference playoffs over three seasons.
The Oles (29-12) avenged a 4-3 loss to St. Thomas on Saturday and avenged MIAC playoff championship losses to St. Thomas in 2007 and 2008. It's the third conference playoff title for the Oles, as St. Thomas has won the other seven.
UST's Brandon Stone allowed three runs in 5 2-3 innings in relief after the Oles broke to an early 4-0 lead.
UST's Drew Cremisino had three hits on the day including a solo home run.
Click here for game 1 box:
http://www.stolaf.edu/athletics/baseball/media/0809/box/sto-ust4.htm
Click here for game 2 box:
http://www.stolaf.edu/athletics/baseball/media/0809/box/sto-ust5.htm
