Tommies Cool Off Saints

The St. Thomas Tommies rolled into Duluth on Sunday morning looking to avenge to early season losses to the St. Scholastica Saints. A four-run first inning for the Tommies off of the Saints Mark Moriarty gave St. Thomas a lead that they would never relenquish.

Moriarty settled down after that rocky first and held the Tommies scoreless for the next four innings as the Saints offense tried to cut into the Tommies lead. In the bottom of the third inning, CSS was able to do just that when Mike Lewis knocked in Luke Olin and Daryl Fuchihara reached first on an error as Keith Ritsche scampered home. This left the Saints looking up from a 4-2 deficit.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Tommies were able to get to Moriarty again when Sean Young knocked in Matt Pexa, and Jordan Roering hit a ground ball single up the middle scored Mike Moran stretching the Tommies lead to 6-2.

The Saints answered right back in the bottom of the fifth inning when Freshman Jake Gaub knocked in Steve Kraushaar with a single through the right side of the infield bringing the score to 6-3.

Freshman phenom Adian Kummet releived Moriarty in the top of the sixth inning and worked the final four innings with out allowing the Tommies to get another run across while allowing only two hits and striking out one. Moriarty finished the game having worked five innings while allowing seven hits and six runs and striking out two.

The Saints offense was only able to muster one more run when Freshman Seth Engberg scored on a Chad Weiss double to left center. This brought the final tally to 6-4 in favor of St. Thomas.

The loss dropped the Saints to 34-4 on the 2006 season with the UMAC playoffs starting this weekend at Wade Stadium in Duluth. The Saints could only face the Tommies again if the two teams both advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament.