University of St. Thomas Athletics
33-7
Augsburg
21-22
Baseball wins 19-9, takes 8th MIAC playoff title
5/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By DOUG HENNES
DUNDAS -- St. Thomas continued on its offensive rampage Sunday, capturing the MIAC playoff baseball title with a 19-9 win over Augsburg to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
The Tommies will find out their destination and first-game opponent on Monday morning. The most likely site will be the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, which won the WIAC regular-season and playoff titles, but another option would be Augustana and the regional in Rock Island, Ill.
St. Thomas (33-7) became the first team in MIAC playoff history to lose its opening game (3-2 to Augsburg Friday afternoon) and win four straight elimination games to grab the title. The Tommies bounced back against St. John's (5-0), outlasted Concordia (7-6 in 11 innings) and then pounded the Auggies 17-1 and 19-9.
It was a long weekend of baseball -- five games and 47 innings in 49 hours -- but in the end the Tommies' pitching depth made the difference. Augsburg did score nine runs on Sunday, but couldn't hold off St. Thomas over the last two games.
"We are starting to swing it," Coach Chris Olean said after seniors Matt Schuld, Matt Olson, Roy Larson and Tom Wippler accepted the championship plaque. "The guys got really comfortable at the plate. They have been here (playoffs) before. They know how to turn it on. And they did."
For the second straight day, home runs keyed the St. Thomas 20-hit attack. After slugging five homers against Augsburg on Saturday, Tommie batters added three more on Sunday. Trailing 5-4 in the third, Drew Cremisino led off with a solo homer to tie the game. In the fourth, Roy Larson's two-run shot put the Tommies up for good at 7-5, and two batters later Cremisino followed with his own two-run blast.
Six runs in that fourth inning put St. Thomas ahead 11-5. Augsburg added two in the bottom of the inning to narrow the gap to 11-7, but the Tommies put the game out of reach with five runs in the fifth inning on five singles and a walk.
Tony Eicher started on the mound for St. Thomas but lasted just 1.2 innings, giving up five runs (three earned). John Licht picked up the win in relief. He was followed on the mound by Matt Nelson. Freshman Nick Gervais had a solid outing as he pitched the final 3.1 innings.
"Nick has a good knuckler, and they were chasing it," Olean said of his tall freshman righthander from Totino-Grace. "He set it up with his fast ball and it worked well."
In the 11 years of the MIAC playoffs, the Tommies now have won eight championships. Sunday's title game with Augsburg was a rematch of the 2005 finale, when the Tommies won 7-0.
NOTES: UST hit just 10 home runs in the first 35 games but had 11 in five games this weekend... UST's 74-31 baseball postseason record over the last 13 seasons includes a 29-9 all-time record in the MIAC playoffs... St. Thomas has won 12 of its last 14 games... UST won four elimination games -- all as the visitor -- by a 48-16 margin... It's the 15th time in the last 16 seasons the Tommies will advance to regionals. The complete Division III field will be announced Monday morning... Brady Field reached base in all six trips Sunday with three hits, a walk, and two HBP. Tayler Rahm had fourof the Toms' 20 hits... Matt McQuillan had 10 hits on the weekend and has hit safely in 21 of 24 career postseason games... Roy Larson led St. Thomas with 11 hits in the tourney, with two or more in each of the five games. Larson has a seven-game ihtting streak after building a 14-game streak earlier this season... Matt Schuld is now 6-1 with a 2.03 ERA in eight career postseason games... Sunday's 19 runs tied an MIAC playoff game record... St. Thomas men's and women's teams won 13 MIAC team titles in 2009-2010 -- nine in the regular-season, and four in the playoffs, with baseball and softball sweeping both.
Click here for Sunday box score:
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: J. Licht (3-0)
L: Petersen (1-1)
S: N. Gervais (1)
Batting:
2B: T. Rahm 1 ; J. Bauer 1
HR: R. Larson 1 ; D. Cremisino 2
RBI: M. McQuillan 2 ; M. Olson 4 ; T. Wippler 1 ; R. Larson 2 ; D. Cremisino 3 ; T. Rahm 1 ; B. Field 1 ; J. Bauer 3
SF: T. Wippler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: M. McQuillan 1 ; M. Olson 1 ; T. Wippler 2 ; R. Larson 1 ; C. Bruchu 2 ; D. Cremisino 3 ; T. Rahm 4 ; B. Field 4 ; J. Bauer 1
SB: M. Olson 1 ; T. Wippler 1
CS: M. McQuillan 1
HBP: M. Olson 1 ; B. Field 2
Batting:
2B: Blunt 1 ; Holmquist 1
HR: Butler 1 ; Seaman 1 ; Blunt 1
RBI: Butler 1 ; Demgen 1 ; Seaman 3 ; Blunt 1 ; Holmquist 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Butler 3 ; Demgen 2 ; Seaman 1 ; EOlson 1 ; Blunt 2
SB: Demgen 3 ; Blunt 1
HBP: Demgen 1 ; Henry 1 ; Williamson 1
