Chris Olean was voted Midwest Region Coach of the Year, and senior All-America Dylan Thomas was voted Region Pitcher of the Year.  

Thomas joined five teammates who were among 12 MIAC players and 42 total honorees on one of three All-Region teams:

--Thomas (utility), senior 2B Jon Kinsel and junior OF Tim Kuzniar were honored on the first team;

--junior catcher J.D. Dorgan was selected for the second team;

--senior RHP Mark Dominik and sophomore OF Ben Podobinski were honored on the third team.

In his four seasons, Olean has guided the Tommies to four NCAA regional playoff berths, four conference championships and one World Series, with an overall won-loss record of 138-44. That includes a 22-13 postseason record.

2013 Stats

Thomas finished 7-2 with a 2.11 ERA in 13 appearances with 60 strikeouts and just nine walks in 55.1 innings. He allowed just three earned runs in his last 34 innings this season. At the plate, he batted .355 with 38 hits, 28 RBI and 27 runs in 34 games. He had three triples and five home runs and also walked 17 times. He reached base in 26 consecutive games late in the season.

Kuzniar hit .387 and drove in 44 runs in 41 games. He had 96 total bases for a .696 slugging percentage, including 17 doubles, three triples and six home runs. In 131 career games, Kuzniar has 154 hits.

Kinsel batted .398 with 53 hits, 39 runs, 30 RBI, 18 walks and 11 steals. He had only four errors in 142 defensive chances at shortstop. He reached base in each of the last 29 games of the season. Kinsel started the last 92 games of his career.

Dorgan batted .365 with 50 hits in 41 games with 40 runs, 40 RBI and seven HRs. He had only two errors in 299 chances in the field. In 132 games, he has 146 hits, including 16 home runs.

Podobinski led the Tommies in batting (.422), runs (48), hits (62) and stolen bases (26). He had no errors in 85 chances in the outfield and threw out two runners on the bases from center field. He has 119 hits, 88 runs and 42 steals in 85 career games.

Dominik went 3-0 this season with two saves and a 1.45 ERA in 13 relief appearances. He had 31 strikeouts to just 13 walks in 31 innings.

St. Thomas finished 34-7 and was ranked in the top 10 nationally throughout the season. That included a 21-1 run against MIAC opponents.

The Pointers (39-9) advance to next weekend's College World Series in Appleton.

Seven of the 10 regional games were decided by one or two runs, including three in extra innings. Point won a pair in extra innings and finished with the 1-0 victory.

St. Thomas had one player on the all-tournament team -- junior catcher J.D. Dorgan. He batted 6-for-13 with four RBI in the Tommies' three games.

UST also had two excellent starting pitching efforts from junior Steve Maher and sophomore Colin Wendinger, who combined to allow no earned runs in 14 1-3 innings.

St. Thomas hit just .286 (30-for-105) and committed five errors in the three games.

WHITEWATER, Wis. -– More struggles at the plate and an opportunistic opponent led to a 7-3 loss to Case Western Reserve on Friday and the end of St. Thomas’ baseball season.

The Tommies, ranked No. 2 in the country coming into the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional, finished with a 34-7 record. They suffered all seven losses when held to three or less runs, and were 31-0 when they scored four or more runs.

They joined No. 5-ranked UW-Whitewater with a 1-2 regional finish and Friday exit. the Warhawks lost a 10-inning game for the second day in a row and lost 3-2 to St. Scholastica.

St. Thomas trailed throughout the game and didn’t put together back-to-back hits until the ninth inning, leaving six runners on base, including five in scoring position. They also had only one two-out hit, compared to 12 in Thursday’s 10-1 win over Benedictine. Three UST piitchers walked five and hit a batter in the first seven innings.

“We hit some balls hard but didn’t get much for it,” Coach Chris Olean said. “We weren’t able to stop them (the Spartans), and every time we scored a run, they got one back. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

Olean told his players after the game not to hang their heads but to be proud of another championship season. The Tommies again dominated the MIAC, winning the regular-season title by a record eight games en route to their 11th straight crown, and eight players were named to the all-conference team. Olean repeated as coach of the year.

He praised the four seniors -– All-American pitcher and designated hitter Dylan Thomas, shortstop Jon Kinsel, and relievers Mark Dominik and Josh Kubitschek – and said a strong returning team bodes well for the 2014 season.

Case Starter Quiets Tommies

The Tommies struggled at the plate against Case Western starter Kevin Johnstone, who came in with a 3-3 record but scattered six hits over eight innings.

The Spartans put three runs on the board in the second inning courtesy of an error and two groundout RBIs. With runners at first and second, shortstop Jon Kinsel relayed a grounder to second baseman Sam Miller but the ball went off his glove and a run scored. After a bunt single loaded the bases, two grounders to second bumped the lead to 3-0.

The Tommies filled the bases in the third with nobody out on two infield errors but scored only one run, on Kinsel’s double-play ground ball. The Spartans got the run back in the fourth to go up 4-1 and St. Thomas responded with a single run in the sixth when Thomas’ sacrifice fly drove in Ben Podobinski.

Case Western built its largest lead, 6-2, on two runs in its half of the sixth on a two-out, bases-loaded walk and single. The Tommies picked up one in the seventh when Podobinski doubled home Kelvin Stroik, but a Spartan home run in the bottom half restored the four-run lead.

Singles by J.D. Dorgan and Jack Hogan in the top of the ninth chased Johnstone. Reliever Daniel Sondag, who entered with a 5.11 ERA, induced a double-play grounder from pinch-hitter Christian Wabers. Stroik grounded out to end the game and the Tommies’ season.

Click here for box score:

http://www.uwwsports.com/documents/2013/5/17/ncaa8.htm?id=1654

The six-team field will have been cut to either two or three remaining teams by Friday night. The Tommies (34-6) need a Friday win and two Satutrday wins to capture the championship, although one loss will end their season.

UW-Stevens Point is the lone unbeaten team at 2-0 but the Pointers will face either UW-Whitewater or St. Scholastica Friday night. The Pointers rallied to edge Whitewater on Thursday, 7-6 in 10 innings.

Click here to access live stats for regional games:

http://uwwsports.com/sports/2013/5/1/BSB_0501130828.aspx?path=baseball

WHITEWATER, Wis. -– One of Matt Vanderbosch’s theories about baseball has to do with the value of two-out hits. “That’s the way you win games,” the assistant coach told the St. Thomas baseball team on Thursday.

He sure is right. The Tommies bounced back from Wednesday’s 1-0 shutout loss to St. Scholastica in the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional to whip Benedictine 10-1, and in the process they banged out 12 two-out hits.

Those dozen hits and a pair of walks led to nine consecutive two-out runs over three innings and allowed St. Thomas (34-6) to advance to a 3 p.m. Friday elimination matchup against Case Western, a 3-1 winner over St. Scholastica.

“We didn’t exactly hit the ball out of the park today, but we did put it in play a lot,” UST coach Chris Olean said. “We got hits when we needed them and were able to manufacture a lot of runs with two outs.”

The 18-hit attack, which included seven infield singles and six doubles, backed the lights-out pitching of sophomore Colin Wendinger. He threw six shutout innings, striking out a batter in each inning, and extended his scoreless streak to 30 innings over five appearances. He last gave up a run March 25 against Chicago in Florida.

“Colin got his feet wet with us last year, and this year his command is better,” Olean said. “Between that hard two-seam fastball and his breaking ball, he has been really tough. He’s down in the zone and on the corners, and those are tough pitches to hit.”

Wendinger said he had the same approach against Benedictine as when he shut down Concordia on Sunday in the MIAC playoff championship game.

“I felt really good out there,” he said. “I was hitting my spots with the curve and the two-seam fastball, and I was comfortable throwing either pitch at any time.”

He shrugged off the 30-inning scoreless streak and gave credit to his teammates.

“It’s the defense,” he said. “I have not been getting an astronomical amount of strikeouts, so I just go out, keep the ball down and let the fielders do their work.”

And they did just that, thrice turning 6-4-3 double plays -– shortstop Jon Kinsel to second baseman Sam Miller to first baseman Tyler Peterson -– in the first, fourth and eighth innings.

Bat Erupt Early

St. Thomas didn’t score in the first inning -– their 12th straight inning without a run going back to the Concordia win -– but broke loose with three runs in the second and sixth and four in the seventh to build a 10-0 lead.

Tim Kuzniar and Jack Hogan doubled to lead off the second. With two outs and a 1-0 lead, the Tommies loaded the bases with a walk and infield single. Peterson

walked to force in a run and J.D. Dorgan’s infield single made it 3-0.

The first two St. Thomas batters flew out in the sixth, but four straight hits plated three more runs and doubled the lead to 6-0. It was more of the same in the seventh – after two outs, five hits led to four runs.

The Tommies’ leadoff and second hitters, Ben Podobinski and Kinsel, each reached base five times in six at bats. Podobinski followed a groundout and a walk with three infield singles and a double and Kinsel had three singles and a pair of walks.

“We hit the ball well today, especially with two strikes,” Kinsel said. “We put the ball on the ground and forced them to make plays. A lot of our guys run well, so that put pressure on their defense, too.”

Podobinski credited the win with the Tommies’ ability to stretch out rallies, “especially with two outs. We finished well today,” as opposed to Wednesday, when they left runners on third base in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Tommie Notes 

--Every St. Thomas position starter got on base against Benedictine. The only one without a hit was Ryan Gerber, who was hit by a pitch. Six players had two or more hits and Dorgan had four RBI. Podobinski’s four-hit day extended his team lead to 61 hits on the season.

--In four postseason games, St. Thomas pitchers have given up only three earned runs in 36 innings (0.75 ERA). The starters have been even more effective, allowing one earned run in 25.1 innings (0.35 ERA).

--If St. Thomas wins its Friday afternoon game, it would need two Saturday wins to return to the Division III World Series, May 24-28 in Appleton, Wis.

--Five of the six regional games have been decided by one or two runs.

--UW-Stevens Point won another 10-inning game in comeback fashion, this one Thursday night over UW-Whitewater, 7-6. The Pointers scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie and two in the top of the 10th to go ahead. They used a two-out strikeout to end the game with a UWW runner stranded on third base.

Click here for box score:

http://uwwsports.com/documents/2013/5/16/ncaa4.htm?id=1650

WHITEWATER, Wis. – Lack of clutch hitting and two throwing errors led to the only run of the game, spoiling a sterling pitching performance by Steve Maher as St. Thomas lost 1-0 to St. Scholastica Wednesday in a NCAA Midwest Regional game.

The Tommies (33-6), top-seeded in the six-team tournament and ranked No. 2 in the country, stranded nine runners -– five in scoring position -– in losing to the sixth-seeded Saints (28-9) and suffering their second shutout in 10 days.

St. Thomas moves into the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament and will play at noon Thursday against Benedictine, a 6-5 loser to UW-Stevens Point.

Coach Chris Olean told his players after the game that they needed to relax and not put too much pressure on themselves.

“We were just a little tight today,” he said. “We were trying to do too much and play to an expectation because of our record and ranking. We also didn’t do a whole lot with the bat.”

The Tommies advanced the tying run to third base in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings but couldn’t come through with a hit. They put two runners on base in the ninth but closed with two fly balls; 12 of their outs were the result of fly balls or pop-ups.

St. Scholastica had a runner out at the plate in the fifth inning, shortstop Jon Kinsel throwing to catcher J.D. Dorgan on an infield grounder with runners at the corners and nobody out. It was the only one of two innings that Maher allowed more than one runner.

But the Saints broke through in the seventh when the Tommies twice failed to turn a double play on the same play. Leadoff hitter Andy Schwantes singled to right and Tyler Henderson laid down a sacrifice bunt in front of Dorgan. His throw to second pulled Kinsel off the bag but Kinsel threw to first for the first out. Schwantes broke for third but Tyler Peterson’s throw sailed over the third baseman’s head and Schwantes scored.

St. Thomas’ best chance to tie came in the eighth after Ben Podobinski walked and moved to second on a balk and to third on a sacrifice fly. But a lineout and fly ball ended the threat.

Maher scattered seven hits in 8.1 innings and dropped to 4-2 on the season and 17-4 on his career in his second-longest outing. “I didn’t have the greatest control and my breaking stuff wasn’t dropping in,” he said. “I fell behind on too many hitters and they got some hits, but I thought I made the right pitches when I had to.”

He agreed with Olean’s assessment and had one piece of advice for his teammates. “We just have to forget about this one,” he said, “and move on.”

NCAA Diviison III Regional/at Whitewater, Wis.

St. Scholastica 1, St. Thomas 0

UW-Stevens Point 6, Benedictine (Ill.) 5 (10 inn.)

UW-Whitewater 2, Case-Western Reserve 0

Thursday's Games

Noon: St. Thomas vs. Benedictine

3 p.m.: St. Scholastica vs. Case Western

6 p.m.: UW-Stevens Point vs. UW-Whitewater

Tommie Notes

--St. Thomas is 31-0 this season when it scores four or more runs and 3-6 when it scores three or less runs.

--Five of the last seven games between St. Thomas and St. Scholastica have been decided by one run.

--The Tommies’ last 1-0 loss was in April 2010 to Augsburg in a seven-inning game. Their last 1-0 loss in nine innings was to North Carolina Wesleyan on the final day of the 1999 Division III tournament; Olean took the complete-game loss after giving up the run in the first inning. St. Thomas finished as national runner-up.

Click here for box score:

http://uwwsports.com/documents/2013/5/15/ncaa1.htm?id=1646

Wendinger (SO-New Ulm/Cathedral) allowed one hit and no runs over 11 innings in two starts last week and ran his scoreless streak to 24 innings. He struck out 14 and allowed three walks, and opposing batters went 1-for-33 against him. He threw a one-hit shutout of Hamline and pitched four innings with eight strikeouts and no hits or runs allowed in the playoff title game against Concordia-Moorhead.

It's the second MIAC Pitcher of the Week honor for Wendinger this season.

Kuzniar (JR-Lakeville/North) had 10 RBI and batted .545 last week with a .909 slugging percentage with five doubles and a home run to help his team. Kuzniar went 4-for-6 with five RBI and a pair of doubles as the Tommies swept then-second-place Gustavus in a MIAC doubleheader. UST wrapped up the regular season a day later by sweeping Hamline, with Kuzniar going 6-for-7 with a pair of three-hit games to go along with four RBI, two runs, two doubles and a homer. In the MIAC Playoffs, the Tommie left fielder was 1-for-5 with a run in a semifinal win over Bethel, and he went 1-for-4 with an RBI double in the championship-game win over Concordia. This season, Kuzniar led the MIAC in RBI (44) and total bases (91) and was third with an even .400 batting average in overall games.

Kuzniar has 151 hits in 128 career games. In his last 18 games, he's batting .484 (31-of-64) with 31 RBI and 18 runs and has an 11-game hitting streak.

What’s Next

The No. 2-ranked Tommies (33-5 overall) are in the NCAA playoffs for the 18th time in the last 19 seasons. They will travel to Whitewater, Wis., and are the top seed in the six-team regional that starts Wednesday.

The No. 2-ranked Tommies (33-5) have won 25 of their last 26 games. They will face a familiar foe noon Wednesday to open the four-day tourney as they open the double-elimination competition against St. Scholastica (27-9).

Other first-round games pit second-seed UW-Stevens Point (35-9) against No. 5 seed Benedictine (Ill.) (32-10), and No. 3-seed UW-Whitewater (34-7) vs. No. 4-seed Case Western (Ohio) (27-12).

The Tommies and Saints have played two dozen times over the last decade including several regional tournament matchups. They split a March 4 Metrodome doubleheader with St. Scholastica, losing 3-2 and winning 6-3.

Last Week

St. Thomas has won the MIAC playoff title for the ninth time in the 14-year history of the event. UST topped Bethel 10-3 and Concordia-Moorhead 11-2. The Toms went 6-0 last week and outscored six opponents 53-11.

Poll Talk

St. Thomas has climbed to No. 2 and has been in the d3baseball.com top 10 throughout 2013, coming off a 41-10 season and third-place national finish from 2012. Four of their five losses came in doubleheader splits with teams that are or were ranked in the top 25 poll.

In last week’s NCAA coaches’ region rankings, No. 3-ranked UW-Whitewater slipped ahead of UST atop the Midwest poll, but the Warhawks didn’t make the WIAC Playoff finals and lost the chance at the regional top seed.

Patience

Like most of the conference baseball teams, St. Thomas had an 18-day layoff in April due to snow and cold weather.

Iron Men

Senior shortstop Jon Kinsel has started all 89 games over the last two seasons. Junior J.D. Dorgan has started 68 consecutive games at catcher, a rarity.

Streaks

The Tommies have won have won 25 of their last 26 games. They also have won 50 of their last 52 regular-season MIAC games. On their home diamond, St. Thomas has won 41 consecutive games. This season, the Toms built a 19-game win streak. UST has won its last 34 April games against conference opponents over three seasons. 

Who's Hot

--From the No. 8 spot in the order, Ryan Gerber went 5-for-7 in the MIAC playoffs with two home runs and eight RBI.

--In his last 17 games, junior 1B Tyler Peterson is batting .469 (30-of-64) with 26 RBI and 22 runs.

--In his last 18 games, junior OF Tim Kuzniar is batting .484 (31-of-64) with 31 RBI and 18 runs and has an 11-game hitting streak.

--Dylan Thomas is batting .415 in his last 14 games (22-of-53) and has reached base in 24 consecutive games.

--The Toms are 20-0 this season when Ben Podobinski has two or more hits. In his last 10 games he's batting .459 (17-of-37) with 10 steals and 14 runs.

--Jon Kinsel has reached base in 26 consecutive games and has 15 multiple-hit games. After a 5-for-19 start this season, he's batting .439.

--Kelvin Stroik had a .560 on-base percentage with 10 hits and 18 walks in 50 at bats.

--Dylan Thomas has allowed just three earned runs in his last 33 innings

--Colin Wendinger has a 24-inning scoreless streak.

Pitching

Tommie baseball has won 72 of its last 76 games when it scores three or more runs. That includes a 31-0 record in such games this season… St. Thomas has used 14 different pitchers thus far, and 10 of them have at least one victory. Sophomore Colin Wendinger went 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three conference starts (20 innings), including Tuesday’s one-hit shutout of 24-14 Hamline. UST has a 2.93 staff earned-run average. Junior Mark Dominik has a team-low 0.67 ERA in 11 appearances (27 innings) with 29 strikeouts and 11 walks. Senior All-America Dylan Thomas has a 7-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio and a 7-2 record with a 2.15 ERA.? 

Fielding

In this season's 33-5 start, junior 2B Sam Miller (109-of-110) and senior SS Jon Kinsel (124-of-132), have combined for only five errors in 238 defensive chances. Cather J.D. Dorgan has just one error in 38 games, and first baseman Tyler Peterson has just two errors. The Tommies, who led Division III in fielding percentage in 2012 at .975, have a .977 field percentage, tied for second in the nation.

Hitting

Sophomore Ben Podobinski has 113 hits, 84 runs and 42 steals in 82 career games… Six different players are averaging at least one hit per game... UST averages nearly eight runs and is batting .352 as a team this spring.

NCAA Stats

In Division III stats through May 5 games, UST was ranked second in fielding percentage (.977) and its pitchers are 11th in strikeouts recorded per nine innings. On offense, the Toms are fifth in Division III slugging percentage (.499); 11th in batting average (.337); and ninth in home runs per game.

Did You Know?

St. Thomas has hit 30 home runs to just nine for opponents, and has 65 stolen bases to just 13 for foes. The Tommies have won their last 25 games when they hit a home run, dating back to the May 2012 conference playoffs.

Coach Chris Olean

Chris Olean is in his fourth year as the head coach of St. Thomas baseball. He's already established himself among the top young coaches in Division III and has a 137-42 record (.745) and four MIAC championships in his first four seasons, including a third-place NCAA finish in 2012. Olean has coached five D-III All-America pitchers thus far in his era as head coach. He was voted conference and Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2012. 

He joined a select group in any sport to win MIAC team titles in each of his first four seasons as head coach.

As a Tommie player (1996-99), he was an All-America pitcher. His senior class was the first in 80 years of MIAC baseball to win four consecutive MIAC baseball titles.

Title Talk

The Tommies won the MIAC crown for the 11th consecutive year. Only three MIAC teams in any sport have a longer current championship streak: UST men’s indoor track and field (29); Gustavus men’s tennis (25); UST women’s indoor track and field (14).

The Tommies set an MIAC record for winning margin in the standings -– in any sport -- as it won by eight games, as the runner-up teams closed 11-9.

UST also tied a conference record with its 19-1 finish, just the fourth team to win 19 MIAC games since the league schedule went to 20 games in 1984. St. Thomas had all three previous 19-1 finishes, in 1996, 1999 and 2012.

Close Calls

St. Thomas went 17-1 in 2012 in games decided by one or two runs. The 2001 Tommies posted a 7-12 record in such games. So far in 2013, St. Thomas is 4-2 in one-run games.

Tradition

Tommie baseball has had 20 consecutive winning seasons and has never finished below third place in the MIAC race in that span, with 15 regular-season titles. They have won 28 or more games in each of the last 18 seasons (16 of them were 30-win years).

Its 659-169 record (.795 win %) since 1995 ranks among the best in Division III. The Toms have captured nine of the 14 conference playoff crowns, taking second three times

The Tommies have won the regional tourney five times to advance to the College World Series in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009 and 2012. UST won NCAA championships in 2001 and 2009; was runner-up in 1999 and 2000; and played into the last day and finished third in 2012.

Did You Know?

Between 1939 and 2010, no MIAC institution swept conference team titles in football, men’s basketball and baseball in the same school year. Now St. Thomas has done it three consecutive years.

MIAC Stats

St. Thomas dominated the 20-game MIAC stats in 2013 and led in virtually every team pitching, fielding and hitting category. They also led several individual stats:

--Tyler Peterson (.478, 33 hits) and Tim Kuzniar (.469, 30 hits) finished 1-2 in batting average and hits

--Kuzniar (30) and Peterson (29) finished 1-2 in RBI

--Jon Kinsel and Ben Podobinski (27 each) shared first in runs scored

--Kuzniar finished first in home runs (5), doubles (10), extra-base hits (16) and slug % (.891)

--Dylan Thomas finished tied for first in triples (3)

--Kelvin Stroik was first in walks (16)

--Podobinski led in stolen bases (16)

--In pitching, Dylan Thomas was first in strikeouts (32)

--Colin Wendinger (0.00 in 20 innings) and Dylan Thomas (0.72 in 24 innings) went 1-2 in ERA

--Mark Dominik had 20 strikeouts in just 13.2 innings with an 0.00 ERA 

Chase for 200

Like Podobinski with 113 hits with two seasons to go, Tommie junior Tim Kuzniar and J.D. Dorgan -- if they stay healthy -- have a shot at joining the elite list of approximately a dozen MIAC players with 200 career hits.

In 128 career games, Kuzniar has 151 hits. In 129 games, Dorgan has 140 hits, including 16 home runs.

Rare Air

Out of 1,000-plus NCAA institutions, only two – St. Thomas and Division I’s Florida State – have qualified both their baseball softball teams into the NCAA playoffs in each of the last 10 seasons.

Homecoming

The Tommies have traveled to Wisconsin for their last 18 regional tournaments. They have six current players who hail from the Dairyland state – junior OF Ryan Gerber (Bruce, Wis.); soph OF Kelvin Stroik (Stevens Point Pacelli); junior RHP Tommy Danczyk (Hayward, Wis.); junior 1B Christian Wabers (Madison Edgewood); junior 3B Nick Degen (Eau Claire Memorial); and soph 3B Dan Kellen (Rhinelander, Wis.).

His attitude paid off Saturday. He hit the ball hard and the result was four hits, including a three-run homer, to lead St. Thomas to a 10-3 win over Bethel in a semifinal MIAC playoff game at Veterans Field in Minnetonka.

The No. 2-ranked Tommies (32-5) rode Gerber’s slugging and Dylan Thomas’ pitching to advance to the championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday against Concordia-Moorhead, which used a walkoff home run in the ninth inning for a 7-5 comeback win over Augsburg. The playoff champion will get an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament next week.

It was Gerber’s first four-hit game at St. Thomas. The junior rightfielder from Bruce, Wis., came to the left side of the plate in the second inning against Bethel pitcher Joe Zorn with two runners on and two outs and a strong wind blowing out to left field.

“He left the pitch up and I got a good piece of the barrel on the ball,” Gerber said. “I wanted to go up the middle or the other way but I pulled it. I thought it was out right away.”

It was Gerber’s sixth home run of the year -– “definitely” the biggest of his career, he said –- and staked St. Thomas to a 3-0 lead. The next time up, with the Tommies leading 4-0 in the fourth, he laced a triple to the centerfield fence and later scored. He followed with an RBI single in the fifth and tried to stretch a seventh-inning single into a double –- and record the rare hitting cycle -– but was called out after one umpire overruled another.

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Greg Smith took these action photos of the St. Thomas baseball game against Bethel.

To view more Greg Smith action photos, click here,

www.gsmithsports.com

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Ryan Gerber and Coach Chris Olean (Greg Smith photo)

Jon Kinsel  (Greg Smith photo)

Ryan Gerber (Greg Smith photo)

J. D. Dorgan (Greg Smith photo)

Ben Podobinski (3) gets congrats from teammates. (Greg Smith photo)

 Tommy Danczyk (Greg Smith photo)

 Sam Miller (Greg Smith photo)

The No. 2-ranked Tommies (33-5) have won 25 of their last 26 games. They will face a familiar foe noon Wednesday to open the four-day, double-elimination tournament -- fellow Minnesota school St. Scholastica (27-9).

Other first-round games pit second-seed UW-Stevens Point (35-9) against No. 5 seed Benedictine (Ill.) (32-10), and No. 3 UW-Whitewater (34-7) vs.  No. 4 Case Western (Ohio) (27-12).

The Tommies and Saints have played two dozen times over the last decade, including several regional tournament matchups. They split a March 4 Metrodome doubleheader with St. Scholastica, losing 3-2 and winning 6-3.

UST has also split early-season twinbills with Whitewater and Stevens Point.

Links

NCAA selecteions:

http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2013/05/2013-selections-announced

Click here to see Regional Tourney website: