Top-seed St. Thomas stormed into the regional baseball championship game with Friday's 22-2 win over sixth-seed St. Scholastica in Whitewater, Wis.
Third-year coach Chris Olean won his 100th game (100-35) for the Tommies (37-8), who advanced to a 3 p.m. Saturday title game with a chance to advance to the College World Series for the fifth time in 14 years.
If UST loses, it will play a Sunday noon rematch for the championship.
Aurora and UW-Whitewater play Friday night, and that winner will play at noon Saturday against St. Scholastica (34-10) for the right to play St. Thomas.
The No. 4-ranked Toms, who pounded 21 hits, have won seven of their last nine games. They stroked three solo home runs by Tim Kuzniar, Charles Bruchu and Dylan Thomas in the top of the first inning to stake starter Steve Maher (12-1) to an early lead
It was still 3-0 through four innings but the first 11 St. Thomas batters of the fifth inning reached base, including six consecutive hits. The Toms sent 17 to the plate and scored 11 runs in the frame.
J.D. Dorgan drove in five runs and joined Thomas, Nick Reichert and Justin Novak with three hits apiece. Maher tied Matt Schuld's school record for season mound wins as he struck out six and walked one in four innings and left with a 14-0 lead.
The 22 runs are believed to tie a St. Thomas postseason record. They match the Toms' NCAA region output from May 18, 2006 in a 22-3 win over Dominican (Ill.).
In eight postseason games, Tommie starters have allowed just eight earned runs in 56 innings for a 1.28 ERA.
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