Eyo Ekpo received the Most Outstanding Performance for his winning leap of 6-10 3-4 in the high jump.

Mike Hutton was named the Most Valuable Track Athlete after he won the open 800 meters and anchored the winning 4x400 and 4x800 relays.

Steve Mathre was named co-Coach of the Year after he guided St. Thomas to a 34-point win over runner-up Hamline.

St. Thomas is ranked in top 20 in both men’s and women’s track and field in this week’s D-III power rankings by the USTFCCCA. Both squads swept the team titles at last week’s conference outdoor meet.

The Tommie men are ranked 14^th, up two spots. The UST women climbed from 35^th last week to No. 19 this week.

Both teams will have some athletes competing this week in last chance meets to improve their times or marks for NCAA qualifying.

UST shot 301 on Wednesday after a 302 scored on Tuesday and placed 16th out of 41 teams. Two teams tied for 14th place at 602.

Thirteen teams are separated by just seven shots from third through 14th place.

Brian Parkhurst shot 74 and is 3-over par, tied for 17th. Alex Kapraun shot 76 and is 4-over, tied for 24th. Michael Mortenson shot 75, Bennett Schroeder shot 76 and John Young shot 80. 

Tuesday's Story

Freshman Alex Kapraun shot even-par 72 and is tied for ninth in a field of 215 to lead the Tommie men's golf team Tuesday in day one of the NCAA Division III Championships in Howey in the Hills, Fla.

In its first NCAA tournament appearance, St. Thomas shot 302 and is tied for 12th out of 41 teams, one stroke behind fellow MIAC team Gustavus. Both the Tommies and Gusties played on what's considered the tougher of two courses, El Campeon. The top-8 team scores turned in on Tuesday came from the more forgiving Colinas Course with the 6,926 yard par-72 El Campeon Course playing significantly more difficult.

Brian Parkhurst shot one over-par 73 and is tied for 20th. Michael Mortenson (78), Bennett Schroeder (79) and John Young (82) round out the UST lineup.

The top 15 teams after Wednesday's second round will make the cut and advance into Thursday and Friday play.

Click here for complete results and day one wrapup:

http://www.ncaa.com/content/diii-mens-golf-championship-team-leaderboard

WHITEWATER, Wis. –- Just throw strikes.

That’s Bryce Gapinski’s mantra in the playoffs this month, and it’s working rather nicely so far for the St. Thomas baseball team.

The senior southpaw struck out a career-high 11 batters Wednesday to lead the Tommies (35-8) to a 5-1 win over St. Norbert’s College in the opening round of the NCAA Midwest Regionals. They will play UW-Whitewater in a second-round game at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Gapinski’s complete-game performance was reminiscent of the way he dominated Bethel in posting a 7-0 shutout last Saturday in the MIAC playoffs. He again had a 3-to-1 strikes-to-balls ratio – 89 strikes and only 30 balls – as he improved to 9-0 on the season and 28-5 in his St. Thomas career, second only to Matt Schuld’s 30 wins from 2007 to 2010.

“I was successful in throwing both of my pitches for strikes, and on any count,” Gapinski said. “I got ahead with my fastball and got most of my strikeouts with curves.”

“He did his job,” Coach Chris Olean said of Gapinski. “He threw strikes. He especially did a good job of throwing his curve for a strike when he needed to.”

Gapinski has been on a roll. In his last five starts, he is 5-0 with a 0.25 ERA, 27 strikeouts and only five walks in 36 innings.

St. Norbert’s snapped his 29-inning scoreless streak in the third on a single, sacrifice bunt and double. The Green Knights threatened to add to their lead in the fifth when they loaded the bases with one out on a walk, a single and an infield error.

“I knew I had to throw strikes and keep it in the pitcher’s count when they loaded the bases,” Gapinski said. “I was able to strike out the next guy and get a grounder (unassisted to first) to end the inning.”

The Tommies, ranked No. 4 in the country and seeded No. 1 in the regional, started slowly on offense and had only one single going into the bottom of the fifth.

Second baseman Sam Miller got the rally going with a one-out single, Jon Kinsel walked on four pitches and Ben Podobinski reached on a fielding error to load the bases. Dylan Thomas walked on four pitches to force in the tying run and Charles Bruchu hit a two-out, two-RBI single to give the Tommies a 3-1 lead.

“The pitcher threw me another changeup,” said Bruchu, who was 12 for 21 with 10 RBI last weekend in the MIAC playoffs. “I had been getting out in front of it, but I saw this one coming and ripped it to left.”

St. Thomas picked up single runs in the sixth on a J.D. Dorgan double and Dan Reichert single and in the seventh when Tim Kuzniar singled in Jack Hogan.

In the earlier game, host Whitewater outlasted Concordia Chicago 2-1 in 10 innings. The Warhawks (30-15) and Tommies split a Metrodome doubleheader on March 8, with St. Thomas winning the opener 3-0 behind Steve Maher’s two-hit shutout and losing the nightcap 8-3 in eight innings after tying the game in bottom of the seventh.

In the evening games, the Nos. 3-4 seeds lost. Six-seed St. Scholastica rallied to top North Park, 8-7, while seventh-seed Aurora edged second-seed UW-LaCrosse, 2-1.

Click here for box score:

http://www.tommiesports.com/bsbl/stats/ncaa2.htm

http://www.sidearmstats.com/uww/baseball/scoreboard.aspx

The top-seed Tommies play St. Norbert at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

http://www.ncaa.com/content/diii-mens-golf-championship-individual-leaderboard

In addition, Chris Olean was voted MIAC Jim Dimick Award recipient as Coach of the Year.

League champion St. Thomas had seven players on the 27-player All-MIAC team, and three on the 10-player All-Defensive team.

Junior 3B Charles Bruchu earned his third consecutive All-MIAC honor, while senior Bryce Gapinski was a repeat selection. They were joined by Thomas, sophomore RHP Steve Maher, freshman CF Ben Podobinski, sophomore LF Tim Kuzniar and junior SS Jon Kinsel.

Making the All-Defensive team were Bruchu, Kinsel and sophomore catcher J.D. Dorgan.

The Tommies won the program's 10th consecutive conference title with a 19-1 record. UST took second in the MIAC playoffs and received an at-large berth into the Division III playoffs -- the program's 17th NCAA appearance in the last 18 seasons. The No. 4-ranked Tommies (34-8) start play Wednesday in the NCAA regional tournament in Whitewater, Wis.

Thomas becomes the ninth Tommie baseball player in the last 15 seasons to be named MIAC Pitcher or Player of the Year. He joins Tayler Rahm (2011) Matt Schuld (2010), Lonnie Robinson (2007), Brett Olson, Brian Krause (2006), Jake Mauer (2001), Chris Olean (1999) and Buzz Hannahan (1998).

Thomas, another 2012 newcomer from Des Moines Area CC, is 6-0 with a save and an 0.80 ERA in last eight appearances. He's also batting .390 as designated hitter (30 hits in 21 games). In 20-game MIAC stats, Thomas was 4-0 with an ERA of 0.93, which led all conference starters. He struck out 34 in 29.0 innings and allowed just 22 base runners (16 hits, six walks). Thomas went the distance in three of his four MIAC starts with two shutouts, and opponents hit just .167. At the plate, he also batted .490 with 24 hits and 19 RBI in parts of 19 games.

Bruchu hit .540 (12-of-21) with 10 RBI in last week's conference playoffs as he homered three times. He's batting .427 in his last 23 games. His career postseason average is .400 (35-of-88). Overall he has 156 hits in 133 career games. In 20-game MIAC stats, Bruchu hit .310 with 18 hits, 16 runs and 17 RBI.

Kuzniar is a career .349 hitter with 87 hits, 57 runs scored, 31 walks in 81 games over his first two seasons. In 20 MIAC starts Kuzniar hit amongst the conferences best posting a .382 average to go along with 21 hits, 14 runs scored and totaled 15 RBI. Overall this season the Lakeville native is hitting .356 with 47 hits, 8 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homeruns, 30 RBI, 27 runs scored and 65 total bases. In addition Kuzniar has posted  an impressive .419 OBP% while hitting either second or fifth in the Tommie lineup while slugging at a .492 clip. Kuzniar has also been very strong defensively for the Tommies totaling 35 putouts as the everyday left fielder and posting a .972 fielding percentage.

Dorgan, who becomes the first UST catcher to be named to the MIAC All Defensive Team, is a career .331 hitter with 88 hits, 56 RBI, 20 doubles and seven HRs in 82 games. The Eagan native has been outstanding defensively for the Tommies this season catching over 300 innings with just two passed balls while totaling 258 putouts, 44 assists to go along with a .987 fielding percentage in 306 defensive chances. Dorgan has thrown out 14 attempted base stealers in 26 chances (54%) while picking off an incredible 8 runners on the bases. Dorgan has now thrown-out more runners, in a single season, than any other UST catcher in the last 12 years (Brady Field, 12 - 2010, Zach Goldberg, 10 - 2006).

Gapinski is 8-0 with an 1.68 ERA, six complete games, five shutouts, and only 10 walks in 2012. On his career:, he's 27-5, with a 2.80 ERA, and his 27 wins are the third most in MIAC history. In 20-game MIAC stats, Gapinski was 4-0 and had only seen walks in 34 innings. He added ashutput win in the MIAC playoffs, nd now has a strealk of 27 scoreless innings.

Maher, a first-year Tommie, is 11-1 with a 2.18 ERA, and 84 strikeouts and just 15 walks in 74 innings. He has has beaten nationally- or regionally-ranked St. Scholastica, UW-LaCrosse, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, Chicago and St. John's. In 20-game MIAC stats, Maher went 5-1, and he added another complete-game victory in the MIAC playoffs last week with a school-record 16 strikeouts.

Podobinski has 19 multi-hit games, a .365 average with 54 hits, 37 runs and 16 steals in 41 games. In 20-game MIAC stats, Podobinski hit .324 with 22 hits and 18 runs.

Kinsel is the only Tommie to start all 42 games this spring. He has 38 hits in 42 career games with just six errors at shortstop. Kinsel joins a long line of very successful UST middle infielders who hail from Cretin Derham Hall joining Buzz Hannahan ('98), Jake Mauer ('01), Mike Kimlinger ('06), Mark Boland ('08), and Louie Salmen ('09). Kinsel is batting .333 in last 27 games and in 20-game MIAC starts, the slick fielding junior shortstop is hitting .345 with 19 hits and 10 runs scored.

Click here for MIAC news release:

http://www.miac-online.org/news/2012/5/9/BSB_0509122410.aspx

Mortenson, who hails from Iola, Wis., population 1,100, has a 75.6 stroke average this season. He also was nominated for Capital One Academic All-America with a 3.94 gpa in Actuarial Science.

Earlier this week, he was named the recipient of the Elite 89 Award for the 2012 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships. The award goes to one individual at each of the 89 NCAA championship sites with the best grade-point average. Mortenson's gpa topped 209 others at this tournament.

He has a 75.6 stroke average this season. He recently won medalist honors at the UW-Stout tournament.

The Tommie men's golf team opened play Tuesday morning in Orlando at the national tournament. The team field will be reduced after Wednesday's round with the top 16 teams playing on Thursday and Friday.

St. Thomas won the conference's automatic berth when it won last October's 54-hole MIAC Championships by a two-stroke margin -- UST's first conference golf title in 31 seasons.

Click here to see complete 2012 Scholar-Athlete recipents:

http://collegiategolf.com/news/2012-division-iii-cleveland-golfsrixon-all-america-scholars-announced-1663.html

Click here to access an online version of the story:

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_20621191/st-thomas-footballs-canada-trip-its-just-blast

Coach Caruso was the MIAC’s featured guest and took part in the celebrity cooking segment with the chef from the Seven restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.

Click here to watch the episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw_qZESKtYc

.

--UP NEXT: Top-seeded St. Thomas (34-8) plays No. 8-seed St. Norbert on Wednesday afternoon in the NCAA regional in Whitewater, Wis. The eight-team, double-elimination tournament features nine-inning games, and the winner will advance to the 2012 NCAA Division III Baseball World Series in Appleton, Wis.

The Toms are in the MIAC playoffs for 17th time in the last 18 years and 18th time overall.  All 17 trips since 1994 have been played in Wisconsin.

St. Thomas, UW-LaCrosse, North Park (Ill.), UW-Whitewater, Concordia (Ill.), St. Scholastica, Aurora (Ill.) and St. Norbert (Wis.) are the Nos. 1-8 seeds in the Whitewater bracket.

--TOURNEY WEBSITE: 2012 MIAC Baseball Playoffs Schedule: http://www.uwwsports.com/sports/2012/4/19/bsb_0419123206.aspx?id=731

--SEASON SERIES: In early-season Metrodome games, the Tommies swept St. Scholastica in two one-run games and split doubleheaders with UW-LaCrosse and UW-Whitewater.  

--DID YOU KNOW? St. Thomas and Florida State are the lone NCAA instiutions at any level to send both baseball and softball teams to the NCAA playoff in each of the last nine seasons.

--TRADITION: St. Thomas has been among Division III’s elite baseball programs over the last 18 seasons. The Tommies were NCAA runners-up in 1999 and 2000; and won NCAA championships in 2001 and 2009. They have won 30 or more games in 16 of the last 18 seasons.

--WHO’S HOT: Dylan Thomas, a junior transfer from Des Moines Area Community College, went 4-0 with a save in April on the mound and also took over the DH role. In UST’s 19-1 conference run, Thomas hit .481 with 26 hits and 19 RBI… As a pitcher, Thomas started 0-2 but in his last eight appearences is 6-0 with a 0.80 ERA... UST hit just three home runs in its first 28 games but has 13 in its last 14 games… Charles Bruchu has reached base in 18 of his last 20 games and batted .540 with 10 RBI in last weekend's conference playoffs. Bruchu is batting .400 in career postseason play… Freshman CF Ben Podobinski has stepped in and ably replaced a four-year starter in Matt McQuillan. Podobinski, a native of Roseville, was in the U of M Gopher program briefly as a walk-on in 2010-11. For the Tommies, he’s batting .365 with 54 hits, 37 runs and 16 steals in 41 games as leadoff hitter... Steve Maher, a sophomore juco transfer from Iowa Central, became UST’s first pitcher to reach 10 season wins during April. He had a school-record 16 strikeouts in his last outing, a nine-innign complete-game win over St. Mary's in the MIAC playoffs.

--27 AND COUNTING: Bryce Gapinski was 2-0 with 0.00 ERA in 11 innings last week and ran his scoreless streak to 27 innings. He moved to 27-5 on his career (2.80 ERA, 42 starts, 46 app.) with three wins and 20 shutout innings in MIAC victories at Concordia, at Gustavus and against Bethel, and now has five shutouts on the season. Gapinski moved to 8-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.68. Gapinski has 17 career wins against MIAC opponents including at least one over eight of the 10. 

Most Career Wins, All Games, MIAC Pitchers (through May 8, 2012)

30, Matt Schuld, St. Thomas (2007-10) (30-5 W-L)

28, James Murrey, Macalester (2007-10) (28-14 W-L)

27, Bryce Gapinski, St. Thomas (2009-present**) (27-5 W-L)

27, Todd Mathison, St. Olaf (2006-09) (27-7 W-L)

27, Charlie Ruud, St. Olaf (2001-05) (27-? W-L)

27, John Nielson, Carleton (1988-91) (27-14 W-L)

27, Joe Meyer, St. Thomas (1984-87) *27-14 W-L) 

26, Brian Krause, St. Thomas (2002-05) (26-14 W-L) 

24, Bryan Edstrom, St. Thomas (1999-2002) (24-1 W-L)

24, Josh Roiger, Hamline (2005-08) (24-9 W-L)

24, John Phyle, Augsburg (1984-87) (24-13 W-L)

--FINE FOURSOME: With Gapinski, sophomore Steve Maher, and juniors Dylan Thomas and Mark Dominik, the Toms' top four starters have a combined 2.12 ERA and a 27-3 record, with 200 Ks in 225 innings. Dominik allowed one hit and one earned run in eight innings last week in the MIAC Playoffs vs. St. Mary's in his longest career stint. He's 2-0 with an 0.82 ERA this season. 

--OFFENSE: St. Thomas is 33-4 when it scores three or more runs.

--POLL TALK: In this week's Division III poll released today, the Tommies were ranked No. 4 by D3Baseball.com. They were unranked in first D3baseball poll of season after 28-18 finish in 2011 and  climbed from No. 25 to 23 to 19 to 13 to 7 to 5 to 3 and peaked at No. 2 last week. They received 10 first-place votes in the D3Baseball poll and one in the ABCA poll two weeks ago. UST has climbed in the ABCA poll from No. 13 to 10 to 8 to 7 to 4 and as of last week to No. 2.

D3Baseball poll:

http://www.d3baseball.com/top25/2012/2012week-12

ABCA poll:

http://www.muhlenberg.edu/pdf/main/athletics/abcapoll_050812.pdf

 --STREAK: The Toms had won a school-record 21 games in row since 7-4 loss to ranked Ramapo (N.J.) on their March spring trip to Winter Haven, Fla. The previous record was 18 in a row back in 1997.

--HOT AT HOME: Toms have won 26 in a row on campus since a May 1, 2010 loss to Concordia Cobbers in game two of doubleheader.

--CONFERENCE TALK: Before their doubleheader split with Gustavus on May 7, the Toms had swept their last six MIAC twinbills of 2011 and had swept their first nine of 2012 for a 30-game regular-season win streak in the conference... St. Thomas has won or shared 10 consecutive MIAC championships. It's the fourth longest active MIAC team title streak after St. Thomas men's indoor track and field (28 in row); Gustavus men's tennis (24 in row); UST women's indoor track and field (13 in row).

--DID YOU KNOW, 2: St. Thomas just missed becoming the first program to post a 20-0 regular-season MIAC baseball record with a split with Gustavus on Monday. The Tommies’ 19-1 finish ties them with the 1996 and 1999 Tommies, who also finished their conference seasons at 19-1. The MIAC expanded to a 20-game schedule in 1984.

--VETERAN: St. Thomas senior DH Nick Reichert is the MIAC’s oldest player at age 27. He’s a 2003 graduate of Minneapolis Southwest High, where he was All-City in four sports (football, soccer, hockey and baseball). Nick played two seasons of hockey for St. Thomas and was a member of UST’s 2005 national runner-up team. He scored two goals that season. He took a break from school but came back to campus last year and has been a key contributor to some wins in 2011 and 2012.

--DEFENSE: The Toms rank near the top nationally among 365 Division III programs with .977 field % -- only 14 of their 32 errors have come from infielders (1B, 2B, SS, 3B). UST is 27-5 in games when it commits one or less errors.

--STRIKES: UST baseball has over a 3-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio and also rank in the top-10 among D-III teams with the fewest walks per nine innings

--CLOSE CALLS: The Toms are 14-2 this season in games decided by one or two runs after going 7-12 in such games in 2011

--RALLY GUYS: The Toms have eight comeback wins in 2012.

--COACH: Chris Olean played four seasons for Coach Dennis Denning (1996-1999), was a nine-year assistant to Denning and has been head coach the last three seasons. His three-year record is 97-35 (.752).