Baseball sweeps Cards to stay in MIAC lead

W, 3-0; W, 4-3
St. Mary's (M), April 09, 2012

Senior lefty Bryce Gapinksi threw a four-hit shutout and retired the last 11 batters he faced as No. 7-ranked St. Thomas topped St. Mary's 3-0 in game one of Monday's conference baseball doubleheader at UST's Koch Diamond.

Gapinski struck out three and had no walks as he improved to 4-0 on the season and 23-5 on his career. It was Gapinski's 14th career complete game and his second career shutout in 41 career appearances.

Sophomore catcher J.D. Dorgan got the things started for the Tommies in the bottom of the third inning when he launched a double deep into the left centerfield alley scoring Charles Bruchu from second base. Then it was Bruchu's two-out, two-run triple to right centerfield in the bottom of the fourth inning that gave UST a three-run cushion.

St. Mary's had four hits through the first three innings but stranded four runners in scoring position and failed to record any two-outs hits off Gapinski. SMU starter Teddy VanRanst went the distance for the Cardinals scattering seven hits through six innings with two strikeouts for his second complete-game of the season.

Dorgan and Dylan Thomas had two hits apiece for the Tommies in game one and Jack Hogan, Tim Kuzniar and Charles Bruchu all chipped in with one hit apiece. 

In game two, UST was outhit 7-6 but rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to take a 4-3 victory and complete a sweep. The Tommies are now 6-0 against St. Mary's dating back to 2009 when they split with SMU in Winona. UST also extended its MIAC regular-season winning streak to 18.

Sophomore Jared Dehmer got the start for the Tommies in game two, his first start since defeating the Minnesota Twins Rookie squad in Fort Myers, Florida on March 22nd. SMU scored two runs in the first inning off two hits and two errors and one more in the third to take a 3-1 lead. UST got one back on the board in the third inning on a two-out error, then used Justin Novak platted a huge two-run single to center scoring the tying and go-ahead runs.

Senior John Licht pitched two scoreless innings in relief with three strikeouts and picked up his first win of the 2012 season to improve to 13-5 on his career. Mark Ulrich retired all six batters he faced and picked up his first career save. Ulrich and Licht combined to retire 11 of the 12 batters they faced.

It was a pitchers' day with a stiff breeze blowing in from center field and creating a wind chill under 40 degrees.

The first-place Toms (18-4 overall, 6-0 MIAC) have won nine in a row and play second-place St. John's Tuesday in a home MIAC twinbill at 2:30 p.m. UST has four comeback victories during their current nine-game win streak.

Click here for Game 1 box score:

http://www.tommiesports.com/bsbl/stats/4-9-bb1.htm

Click here for Game 2 box score:

http://www.tommiesports.com/bsbl/stats/4-9-bb2.htm

Game Notes...The Tommies have seven saves this year (tied for 1st in the MIAC) but five different players have accounted for that total (Kubitschek - 2, Danczyk - 2, Thomas - 1, Licht - 1 and Ulrich - 1)...The long standing rivalry between St. Thomas and St. Johns extends beyond the football field, in fact UST and SJU have been doing battle since before the MIAC formed in 1920 -- UST is 8-2 vs SJU dating back to 2008, the Tommies last swept the Johnnies in 2009 in Collegeville...The last time the Johnnies were at the Koch Diamond was 2010 and SJU split with the Tommies...St. John's RHP/1B Connor Cline and 3B Luke Larson were teammates of UST's J.D. Dorgan, Zach Franz, Steve Maher, Josh Kubitschek and Charles Bruchu on the St. Paul League All-Star Team this past summer...The Tommie pitching staff has 2.47 team ERA and a Midwest leading 5-shutouts this spring to go along with 9 complete games...April 12th, 2011 was the last time the Tommies have lost any regular season MIAC game when they were swept by Hamline at Midway Stadium, UST has won eighteen straight since...