Fri. NCAA Baseball: Freshman's shutout keeps Toms alive

L, 2-5; W, 6-0
St. Olaf (M), May 15, 2009

Freshman John Licht threw a four-hit shutout in his longest college outing as No. 18-ranked St. Thomas stayed alive with Friday afternoon's 6-0 win over UW-Stevens Point in an NCAA regional baseball game in Oshkosh, Wis.

The Tommies (34-12) will play St. Olaf Saturday in an 11 a.m. game and need a victory to force a 2:30 p.m. rematch for the region crown. It's UST's seventh trip to the region finals in 14 appearances under Coach Dennis Denning. The Point contest was UST's 100th postseason game under Denning in his 15 seasons and UST is now 65-35 in those games.

St. Olaf (32-12) needs just one win to take the title. The Oles have won 16 of their last 18 games, including six postseason wins in a row over the last seven days. That includes a 3-0 record vs. the Tommies over the last six days.

Licht (pictured at right) had nine strikeouts, no walks and allowed only four baserunners, all on singles. He retired the first nine Point batters and took a 4-0 lead to the mound in the fourth inning when he surrendured his first hit.

Only two runners got past first base in the season-ending loss for the Pointers (31-17), who went 2-2 in the regional. Point, which lost 5-4 to UST on Wednesday in 17 innings, went scoreless in its final 19 innings against St. Thomas.

It was the second nine-inning complete-game NCAA playoff victory by a Tommie freshman pitcher in as many days. Bryce Gapinski won Thursday night's 8-4 decision over St. Scholastica. In four NCAA playoff games over 44 innings, six Tommie pitchers have allowed just 10 earned runs.

Licht had only pitched more than five innings once this season. He improved to 5-2 and rebounded nicely from two MIAC playoff games last weekend when he allowed seven earned runs in 2 1-3 innings.

Tim Kahle had two hits to lead UST's seven-hit attack. Brian Schmitz had two RBI.

The Tommies lost 5-2 to St. Olaf earlier Friday as they allowed all five runs in the third inning.

Click here for live stats link for regional games:

http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/livestats3/xlive.htm

Friday Scores

St. Olaf 5, St. Thomas 2

UW-Stevens Point 9, St. Scholastica 3 (St. Scholastica eliminated)

St. Thomas 6, UW-Stevens Point 0 (Point eliminated)

Saturday Games

11 a.m.: St. Thomas (34-12) vs. St. Olaf (32-12)

2:30 p.m.: Rematch if St. Thomas wins 11 a.m. game

Morning game

Second-seed St. Thomas lost a 5-2 decision to top-seed St. Olaf 5-1 in the Friday's nine-inning NCAA regional baseball playoff game in Oshkosh, Wis.

The Oles (32-12), who outhit the Tommies 10-5, have won 16 of their last 18 games and are one victory away from their first baseball region championship and College World Series trip.

The Tommies (33-12) play a 4 p.m. elimination game later today against the winner of the 1 p.m. elimination game between UW-Stevens Point and St. Scholastica. UST must win that game and beat St. Olaf twice on Saturday to claim the championship.

The Tommies are missing two of their top five pitchers, including senior Erik Olson who missed the whole postseason with a medical issue.

UST took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on a Matt Olson single, stolen base, bunt and Dan Leslie sacrifice fly.

The Oles scored five runs on six hits in the bottom of the third inning off UST starter Ryan Fahey and reliever Brady Gibbs.

St. Olaf's Alex Sommer, who shutout the Toms 8-0 on Sunday, cruised through seven innings as he allowed three hits and three walks but was replaced by Todd Mathison in the top of the eighth after a leadoff single by Matt Olson. Matt McQuillan doubled and Olson scored as Leslie reached on an error. But with runners at first and third and none out, the Toms had two pop ups and a strikeout to end the threat and keep the deficit at three runs.

Gibbs allowed six hits, two runs and two walks in 5 2-3 innings of relief. Matt Olson led the Toms with two hits and Leslie drove in both runs.

After batting .350 in the regular season, the Tommies are batting just .252 in their last six postseason games against elite pitching.

Click here for live stats link for regional games:

http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/livestats3/xlive.htm