University of St. Thomas Athletics
7-2
UW-Stevens Point
3-1
Maher sharp in Baseball's split with No. 5 Point
3/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Auburndale, Fla. -- The Tommies headed back into the Florida sun on Sunday after successfully opening their trip with a 5-0 victory over RPI on Saturday. Steve Maher and Bryce Gapinski took undefeated records to the mound against the No. 5 ranked UW-Stevens Point Pointers. The Tommies won game one, 3-0 and dropped game two, 4-1. UST is now 7-3 against Midwest Regional competition this spring, and ended a three-game losing streak to the Pointers.
Game One: Maher started game one and ran into trouble early when he hit leadoff hitter Dan Douglas to start the contest. Douglas moved up to second base on a wild pitch and then moved to third on a fly out by two-hole hitter Casey Barnes. With one out Justin Jirschele lined a hard grounderl towards the hole at first but senior captain Dan Reichert made an outstanding pick of the ball, turned to his left and fired home to get Douglas trying to score. Maher then retired the next seven batters he faced, five via strikeout. In the fourth, Maher ran into trouble again this time with a leadoff single by Barnes to center followed by a one out single by Sean Gerber to right. Maher then got catcher Ryan Schilter to strikeout looking and Max Mittelstaedt grounded out to first to end the scoring threat.
The Tommies struck first getting on the board in the fifth inning. With one out a red-hot Jon Kinsel, who's collected six hits thus far on the current Florida trip, singled to center and moved to second on an infield single by Ben Podobinski. After Tim Kuzniar flied out, Charles Bruchu singled to right to score Kinsel from second. J.D. Dorgan followed with a two-run single to left.
The three-run cushion was all Maher needed to run his record to a perfect 4-0. The Holy Angels graduate retired 11 of the last 12 hitters he faced to post his second consecutive shutout and lowered his earned-run average to a miniscule 0.72. The sophomore transfer hasn't allowed an earned run since the third inning of Opening Day against St. Scholastica.
At the plate for the Tommies, Bruchu was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored; Dorgan 1 for 3 with two RBI; Dan Reichert 1 for 2; Sam Miller 1 for 3; and Jon Kinsel was 2 for 3 with a run scored.
Game Two: Bryce Gapinski (shown at right) took his perfect 3-0 record to the hill in game two an
d proceeded to match Maher's game one spectacle with 5.2 scoreless innings. The senior lefthander, who was making his first career start against UW-Stevens Point, limited the Pointers to four hits and no runs with one strikeout. After a strong five innings, Gapinski ran into trouble in the sixth when Casey Barnes lined a double down the first base line and Justin Jirschele walked to put runners on first and second. Dylan Thomas then relieved Gapinski and got Point catcher Ryan Schilter to strikeout on three pitches to end the scoring threat.
Offensively the Tommies struck first in game two, this time with one run in the first inning when Podobinski walked, moved to second on a Jack Hogan sacrifice, took third on Bruchu's single to right field and scored on Dorgan's sacrifice fly to center field. It was Dorgan's team-leading 12th RBI of the spring.
The Pointers struck back in the top of the seventh inning against Dylan Thomas and the Tommies. With two outs the defending WIAC champs rallied, Bobby Gregorich lined a base hit to right field to put runners at the corners. After pinch hitter Cody Hanker was hit by the pitch, leadoff hitter Dan Douglas coaxed a full-count walk to knot the game at 1-1 apiece. Barnes followed with a hard sinker liner into right and under the outstretched arms of a diving Hogan to bring home all three runs to make the score 4-1. The Tommies staged a comeback rally of their own loading the bases with two outs, but senior closer Ryan Iverson got Hogan to fly out to deep right field to end threat and the contest giving Stevens Point a series split against the Tommies.
The Tommies (8-3) are now 7-3 against premiere regional competition after facing St. Scholastica, No. 11 UW-Whitewater, No. 5 Stevens Point, UW-LaCrosse and UW-Oshkosh. UST will be back in action Monday at 11 a.m. in Winter Haven at Chain O' Lakes Park against Benedictine (Illinois) in one nine-inning contest.
Game Notes....Maher is likely Division III's first four-game winner and now leads the conference in ERA (.072)...Jon Kinsel remained red-hot in Florida collecting three more hits on Sunday and is now 6 for 9 (.667) during the current thre
e game stretch...Dorgan picked off another runner at first base in game one on Sunday and gunned down another attempted base stealer at second base in game two, the sophomore backstop has now thrown-out seven would-be base stealers this season and picked-off two runners at first base... Before the Pointers rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in game two, Tommies hurlers had not allowed an earned run in 22.2 straight innings... Gapinski's 5.2 shutout innings on Sunday lowered his earned run average to .093 joining Maher in the sub-1.00 club... Senior designated hitter Nick Reichert has been the victim of Florida weather thus far in the Tommies three spring break games, lining out twice and getting robbed of two extra base-hits on deep fly balls into the gap both times being caught by an outstretched right fielder....
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Steve Maher (4-0)
L: Max Frederick (1-1)
Batting:
RBI: Charles Bruchu 1 ; J.D. Dorgan 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Ben Podobinski 1 ; Charles Bruchu 1 ; Jon Kinsel 1
CS: D. Reichert 1
Base Running:
SB: Sean Gerber 1
HBP: Dan Douglas 1
PO: Max Mittelstaedt 1
