Pat Siering stretches to nip a St. Thomas baserunner at first base in game one. (Brian Fowler Photo)
The Gustavus baseball team saw its chance to move back into first place disappear dropping two games to first place St. Thomas by the scores of 7-1 and 3-0 on Tuesday afternoon in St. Peter. The Gusties were not able to string any hits together over the two games, while the Tommies did manage to record key hits late in both games. The result was two critical wins for St. Thomas and a very disappointing afternoon for Gustavus. St. Thomas improves to 12-2 in league play, while the Gusties fall to 10-5.
In game one, the two rivals battled to a 1-1 tie through four innings, however the Tommies broke the game open with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. A couple of hits, a couple of wild pitches by Gustavus and a bases loaded walk led to a big inning for St. Thomas. Dan Leslie, Drew Cremisino, Matt Olson, and Louie Salmen all picked up RBI in the inning. The Tommies added two more runs in the top of the seventh inning to claim the 7-1 win in game one. Lonnie Robinson picked up the win on the mound for St. Thomas. The Gusties who collected three of their six hits in the fourth inning when they scored their lone run, were unable to spark a rally in the final three innings. Pat Siering led Gustavus with two hits in three at-bats. Dave Wold suffered the loss on the mound. He pitched five and two-thirds innings allowing five earned runs and six hits.
In game two, Adam Bren pitched a solid game and kept the Tommie offense in check, but once again the Gusties were unable to register a key hit with runners in scoring position. In the fourth inning, St. Thomas took a 1-0 lead after Louie Salmen walked, advanced to second on an infield out, and scored on a single by Matt Pexa. Gustavus put together a rally in the fifth inning loading the bases with one out, however St. Thomas reliever Erik Olson came in to strike out two Gustie batters and preserve the 1-0 Tommie lead. In the sixth inning, St. Thomas manufactured two more runs as Dan Leslie dropped down a two-out bunt for a single and then scored on Eric Fleming’s double. Fleming then scored when Louie Salmen doubled to extend the Tommie lead to 3-0. Gustavus registered one hit in each of the sixth and seventh innings but could not get a runner across the plate and the Tommies completed the sweep with a 3-0 victory. Matt Schuld was the winning pitcher for St. Thomas, while Adam Bren was the tough luck loser for Gustavus. Bren pitched a complete game scattering seven hits and allowing three earned runs. Pat Siering was 2-for-2 at the plate for the Gusties. He finished the day with four hits in five at-bats and he scored the lone Gustavus run.
The Gusties, who have now lost four straight games, head to Hamline on Wednesday battling to stay in the playoff hunt. Gustavus enters the doubleheader in third place in the league standings with a record of 10-5, while Hamline is in a tie for fourth place with Augsburg at 8-6.