University of St. Thomas Athletics
Hamline
Baseball falls 7-5 in playoff finals, but makes NCAAs
5/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NOTE: The Tommies indeed received an at-large bid into the NCAA playoffs
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By DOUG HENNES
Tough pitching and sterling defense carried St. Thomas to a 5-1 win over Hamline and into the MIAC playoff championship game on Sunday, but the Tommies came up short on both in the finale and lost 7-5 to the Pipers.
Hamline (28-13) scored three runs in the eighth inning to overcome its fourth one-run deficit of the game and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA regional playoffs later this week in Whitewater, Wis.
The Tommies (27-16), who won their ninth straight regular-season MIAC title, will find out Monday if they will receive an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.
"It always comes down to pitching," St. Thomas coach Chris Olean said. "You can't put guys on base every inning. As well as we pitched and played in the first game, we didn't come through when it counted in the second."
The key play came in the eighth inning with St. Thomas leading 5-4. Senior Kris Edwards, who had pitched a brilliant four-hit, 1-0 shutout in Friday's tournament opener against St. John's, came on in relief and gave up a single, walk and bunt single to load the bases with nobody out.
His wild pitch brought in the tying run, and catcher J.D. Dorgan's throw back to the plate skipped past Edwards as second Piper scored. Hamline tacked on its final run on a two-out infield single and allowed only one Tommie runner in the last two innings to lock up the win.
St. Thomas used five pitchers, and they struggled to keep Hamline off the base paths. The Pipers put the leadoff hitter on base in the first six innings as well as the eighth and battled backed from deficits of 1-0, 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 before going ahead in the eighth. The St. Thomas pitchers gave up four walks and 10 hits and hit three batters, and there were three errors.
"We didn't execute defensively in the second game," said second baseman Chuck Bruchu. "We let too many guys get on base, and they made us pay for it."
Bruchu came out of what he called "a little slump" with five hits in nine bats on Sunday, including a homerun in the opener. He scored twice, knocked in two runs and had two stolen bases in the doubleheader, finishing with eight hits in the tournament, as did shortstop Tim Kahle.
"I'm seeing the ball better and getting more aggressive at the plate," Bruchu said. "I figured I might as well swing hard and hope for the best."
Six of the seven games in the weekend tournment were decided by two or less runs and included three comeback wins by the Pipers.
Click here for Game 2 box:
http://www.miac-online.org/custompages/baseball/baseball2011/huustp3.htm
Drew Cremisino (Mike Ekern photo)
St. Thomas 5, Hamline 1 (Game 1)
St. Thomas used the long ball - a two-run double and two solo homers - and a solid pitching performance by freshman Zach Franz to defeat Hamline 5-1 Sunday afternoon and advance to the championship game of the MIAC playoffs.
The win over Hamline was the first in four tries this season for the Tommies, who dropped a regular-season doubleheader at Midway Stadium and a 4-3 second-round game Saturday in the MIAC playoffs at Veterans Stadium in Minnetonka.
St. Thomas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. One batter after Hamline leftfielder Andy King robbed Tayler Rahm of a three-run homer with a leaping catch at the fence, Drew Cremisino drove in two runs with a double to the center field fence.
Hamline picked up one run in the bottom of the first with a two-out walk and two singles, but that is all Franz would give the Pipers. He went 6.1 innings, giving up four hits and two walks and hit three batters. Fellow freshman Mark Ulrich came on to finish the game.
The Tommies extended their lead to 3-1 on a long Chuck Bruchu homer to left in the third. Tim Kahle drove in a run with a single in the fourth and Cremisino finished off the scoring with a line-drive home run to right in the fifth.
St. Thomas' defense was outstanding throughout the game. The Tommies snuffed out a Hamline rally in the seventh when, with the bases loaded, Kahle stabbed a line drive to shortstop and doubled off the runner at second. In the ninth inning, Bruchu ran down a bloop fly ball behind second, diving and making an over-the-shoulder catch.
Click here for Game 1 box:
http://www.miac-online.org/custompages/baseball/baseball2011/huustp2.htm
