University of St. Thomas Athletics
28-17
Aurora
30-14
Gapinski leads Baseball past Aurora in regionals
5/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By DOUG HENNES
WHITEWATER, Wis. - Bryce Gapinski likes taking the mound with a lead.
St. Thomas (28-17) jumped out to a 3-0 lead over Aurora Thursday in the NCAA regional playoffs, and Gapinski made 
the most of it as the Tommies cruised to an 8-3 win to advance to a third-round game at 1 p.m. Friday. Their opponent will be St. Scholastica, a 3-2 winner over top-seed UW-Stevens Point.
The junior from Foley was in control throughout the seven innings he pitched, staying ahead of batters with first-pitch strikes and giving up only one earned run and three hits.
"With an early lead like that, you just go out there, pitch to make contact and be aggressive," said Gapinski, who threw 59 strikes and only 24 balls and improved his 2011 record to 7-2. "I had good control of my pitches. I was getting ahead with my fastball and getting batters out with my curve."
The Tommies opened the game with three runs from the first four hitters. Drew Cremisino knocked in Tim Kahle 
and Chuck Bruchu with a double to the left-center fence, and J.D. Dorgan followed with a ground-rule double to make the score 3-0.
Cremisino finished with four RBIs on the day, including one on a single and another on an infield grounder. The senior right fielder from Forest Lake liked the way the Tommies were aggressive from the outset against Aurora starter Stephen Sitterly.
"He was leaving pitches up in the zone in the first," Cremisino said. "He threw me a fastball middle up - the kind of pitch I like to drive."
Aurora picked up a run in the second, and the Tommies responded with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth. Kahle's single drove in the doubling J.B. Korte to push the lead to 4-1, Cremisino scored on Tayler Rahm's ground-
rule double, and a Cremisino bloop single scored Tim Kuzniar after the Tommies loaded the bases on a hit batter and two walks.
St. Thomas loaded the bases again in the eighth and scored twice. Cremisino grounded into a force play at second, bringing in Kuzniar, and Kahle scored on a bad throw to first.
Coach Chris Olean wasn't happy the Tommies failed to capitalize more on the two bases-loaded, no-out situations and that they left nine runners on base.
"We had a strong start," he said, "but I'm concerned how we coasted after that. We need to stay aggressive the entire game."
Kahle went 0-for-4 in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to UW-Whitewater but bounced back Thursday and ended up on base five times - on three singles, a walk and an error - and scored twice. Bruchu had two bunt singles - he also had one on Wednesday - and is hitting .500 for the tournament.
PHOTOS: Top to Bottom, Bryce Gapinski, Drew Cremisino, Tim Kahle
Click here to see box score:
http://www.uwwsports.com/custompages/baseball/2011/ncaa4.htm
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Wednesday's Games Game 1: UW-Stevens Point 3, Aurora (Ill.) 2, 10 innings Game 2: UW-Whitewater 3, St. Thomas 2 Game 3, Hamline 3, St. Scholastica 2, 13 inn. Thursday's Games Game 4: St. Thomas 8, Aurora (Ill.) 3 (Aurora out) Game 5: St. Scholastica 3, UW-Stevens Point 2 Game 6, 4 p.m.: UW-Whitewater 7, Hamline 6 (10 inn.) Friday's Games Game 7, 10 a.m. Hamline vs. UW-Stevens Point (loser out) Game 8, 1 p.m.: St. Thomas vs. St. Scholastica (loser out) Game 9, 4 p.m.: UW-Whitewater vs. Game 7 winner Saturday's Games Game 10, Noon: TBA Game 11:, 3 p.m.: TBA
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gapinski (7-2)
L: Sitterly (5-3)
Batting:
2B: Cremisino 1 ; Dorgan 1 ; Rahm 1 ; Korte 1
RBI: Kahle 1 ; Cremisino 4 ; Dorgan 1 ; Rahm 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kahle 2 ; Bruchu 1 ; Cremisino 2 ; Korte 1 ; Kuzniar 2
CS: Kahle 1
HBP: Korte 1 ; Kuzniar 1
Batting:
3B: Adams 1
RBI: VanAsdlen 1 ; Singraber 1 ; Foley 1
SF: VanAsdlen 1 ; Singraber 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Adams 1 ; VanAsdlen 1 ; Davidson 1
SB: Davidson 1
