University of St. Thomas Athletics
Carthage
Baseball loses 5-4 to Warhawks, closes season 35-9
5/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By DOUG HENNES
WHITEWATER, Wis. - St. Thomas' four-month quest to repeat as NCAA Division III title ended here Friday evening with a 5-4 loss to UW-Whitewater.
The Tommies finished the season 35-9, with seven of those losses coming by only one run. That situation repeated itself twice during the NCAA Midwest Regional tournament, first with a 2-1 loss to UW-Stevens Point on Thursday and then with Friday's Whitewater battle.
St. Thomas trailed the entire game as Whitewater jumped out to leads of 1-0, 3-0 and 5-2. The Tommies rallied in the bottom of the seventh for two runs and had bases loaded with one out but couldn't deliver the tying run, and the Warhawks held on to win.
"Thank you for a good season," Coach Chris Olean told his team in the post-game huddle. "I had a blast in my first year, and I hope I lived up to your expectations."
Olean also commended his eight seniors -- John Bauer, Derek Jacobson, Roy Larson, Matt Nelson, Matt Olson, Matt Schuld, Brandon Stone and Tom Wippler -- for their leadership. "You have been leaders all year, and you set a great example for everyone."
Whitewater (41-6) advances to a Saturday rematch with Stevens Point, which beat the Warhawks 12-4 in Friday's first game. They will need to beat the Pointers twice on Saturday to advance to the national tournament May 28-June 1 in Appleton, Wis.
The Warhawks struck early on Friday, opening the game with three consecutive hits off St. Thomas starter Bryce Gapinski to take a 1-0 lead. They added two runs in the fourth inning after two were out on two hits and a throwing error.
St. Thomas got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Tom Wippler and Roy Larson, who later scored on a catcher's error. Whitewater boosted its lead to 5-2 with single runs in the sixth and seventh.
The Tommies loaded the bases in their half of the seventh on a walk, a one-out single and a walk. Wippler and Larson followed with back-to-back RBI singles to cut the Whitewater lead to 5-4 with the bases still loaded. But St. Thomas couldn't collect the tying run.
"That hurt," Olean said. "We battled -- we really battled. We just needed one more hit there."
The game ended with both teams' aces -- Matt Schuld (10-1) for St. Thomas and Riley Tincher (12-1) for Whitewater -- on the mound. Schuld held the Warhawks to no runs and two hits over the last three innings, and Tincher gave up a two-out single to Wippler in the ninth before inducing Larson into a short-to-second force to end the game.
NOTES: The Toms had a streak of elimination-game wins halted at 11 dating back to May 2009... The Tommies eliminated Carthage 7-5 -- their third win over Carthage this season... The top four NCAA Division III finishers from 2009 have all been eliminated this year in the regional round-- UST, Wooster, Carthage and Chapman... Wippler went 5-for-8 on the day with two homers and five RBI to lead the UST offense. He closed his career with 196 hits... Schuld finshed his final college season 10-1 with a 2.05 ERA... Bryce Gapinski took his first career postseason loss in five decisions... UST pitchers allowed 13 earned runs in 35 innings in four regional games.
Click here for UST-Whitewater box score:
UST 7, Carthage 5
By DOUG HENNES
WHITEWATER, Wis. - St. Thomas rallied from a one-run deficit to defeat Carthage 7-5 Friday afternoon and stay alive in the NCAA Midwest Regional tournament.
The Tommies (35-8) advance to play another elimination game, scheduled to start at 4:25 p.m. Friday, against UW-Whitewater. The Warhawks lost earlier Friday, 12-4, to UW-Stevens Point.
If St. Thomas defeats Whitewater, it then would have to beat Stevens Point twice on Saturday to claim the regional crown and advance to the national tournament May 28-June 1 in Appleton, Wis.
Friday's win was the 11th consecutive elimination victory for St. Thomas in NCAA and MIAC playoff games going back to last May's Midwest regional tournament.
The Tommies grabbed a 4-0 lead over Carthage in the first inning. Matt McQuillan singled, Matt Olson reached on an error and Tom Wippler hit a three-run home run. The next batter, Roy Larson, also homered.
Carthage battled back, scoring five runs on six hits in the bottom of the fourth off St. Thomas starter Matt Nelson, who came into the game with a 6-0 record and a 1.36 ERA.
"I had trouble hitting my spots most of the day," Nelson said after the game. "Too many balls ended up over the plate, and they (Carthage hitters) found some holes. I just plugged away and felt better in the later innings."
Wippler tied the game in the fifth inning on a solo homerun to center field - his seventh homer of the year and fifth since last Saturday, when he hit three in MIAC playoff wins over Concordia-Moorhead and Augsburg.
"I'm just seeing the ball really well right now," Wippler said of the two homeruns, which came on fastballs from Carthage starter Scott Danley.
The Tommies took the lead in the sixth when Olson knocked in John Bauer with a single to left. They added an insurance run in the ninth when Chuck Bruchu singled, stole second, went to third on a groundout and came home on a Brady Field single.
Nelson lasted until two outs in the eighth inning, when he gave up a walk and single. Brandon Stone relieved and loaded the bases with a walk but induced a groundout to escape the inning. He retired the first two Red Men in the ninth, issued a walk and got the final out on a grounder.
"We knew that game wouldn't be easy," Coach Chris Olean told his players. "Carthage tested us."
Click here for in-game updates on UST's live blog:
http://www.stthomas.edu/magazine/2010/Spring/Baseball
Click here for live stats on the UST-Whitewater game:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/uww/baseball/index.htm
Click here for the tournament webpage:
