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| Benton Holly drove in what proved to be the winning run on a one-out RBI single in the top of the 10th inning to spark a five-run rally. Augustana lost to Millikin 5-3. Millikin will face Carroll in the winners finale. Carroll athletics photo |
Senior lefty Graham Laubscher continued his shutdown ways and redshirt freshman Jake Porter drove in three runs with a pair of RBI hits to lead top-seed St. Thomas to a 7-2 win over fifth-seed Bethel in Thursday's first game of the four-team double-elimination semifinals of the MIAC Baseball Playoffs in Collegeville. Redshirt freshman Sam Kulesa went 3-for-4 and scored two runs to help St. Thomas (27-5) run its win streak to 13 games. Senior Josh Thorp's two-out triple in the eighth plated two insurance runs. Newcomer Mike Wallace, playing his first varsity game with the Tommies, went 3-for-3 and scored one run. Coach Chris Olean's Toms moved into Friday's winners' bracket game against tonight's Gustavus-St. Mary's victor.
Bluffton University is continuing their Cinderella run in the HCAC baseball tournament. The Beavers routed Anderson University 11-3 in the opening game from Lexington, Ky., on a beautiful Thursday. A nine-run barrage by the Beavers in the eighth inning coupled with an outstanding start by sophomore Jacob Boelkens added up to Bluffton's first-ever victory in the double-elimination portion of the Heartland Conference Tournament. In game two, the No. 3 seed Earlham College put up 11 runs in the third inning to bypass the No. 2 seed Franklin College, 15-0. In the final contest of the day, the No. 1 seed Transylvania put on a scoring clinic, downing No. 5 Bluffton 20-3.
- Photo Gallery: Bethel vs. St. Thomas (Minn.) | St. Mary's (Minn.) vs. Gustavus Adolphus
Luther, the top seed of Pod 2 of the American Rivers Conference Tournament, defeated No. 7 Wartburg College 11-5 this afternoon in Waverly, Iowa. The Norse had 18 hits and scored in every inning except the bottom of the 8th en route to the victory. Kelby Johnson was one hit away from batting for the cycle. He had a single in the fourth, drove in two runs with a triple in the fifth, and hit a two-run home run in the seventh. He finished 4-for-4 and scored a team best three times. Nick Dufoe (6-1) pitched 8 2/3 innings and picked up the win. Dufoe faced 41 batters, allowed three earned runs on 11 hits, walked two and struck out four. Luther will play Simpson, who upset Loras 12-3 onm Friday. In the other pod, top seed Coe defeated Central 7-3 and Buena Vista was a 6-5 victor over Dubuque Buena Vista won their fifth straight ARC tournament game, topping Coe 2-0.
As they did during the regular season, the Eastern Connecticut State University and University of Southern Maine squads split today’s two games to begin the best-of-three Little East Conference (LEC) Championship series, forcing the “if-necessary” third game to played Friday at 1 p.m. at ECSU. The host Warriors won the opener 6-2 in 10 innings before the visiting Huskies took game-two 4-3. Twelfth-ranked Eastern (32-5) ended Southern Maine’s (30-9) 14-game win streak in the first game by scoring four runs in the top of the tenth inning in a 6-2, 10 inning victory for its 11th straight victory that moved the Warriors within a game of their tenth LEC tournament title. In the second game 15th-ranked Southern Maine positioned itself for a sixth LEC tournament championship by scoring the tying and go-ahead runs in the top of the sixth and got scoreless relief from first-game loser freshman righty Bryce Afthim as the teams split a doubleheader for the third time this season.
No. 2 seed Mount Union defeated No. 5 seed Heidelberg, 5-4, in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Thursday at Rafeld-Rogers Field. The Purple Raiders, now 28-11 overall, advance to the championship round for the first time since 2017 and will take on top-seeded and No. 4 ranked Marietta in a best of three-game series. Marietta defeated John Carroll 10-3. The MUC-HU game was tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning when Brian Livolsi hustled for a two-out double then came home with the go ahead run on an RBI single from Walker Marlowe. Livolsi had a pair of doubles and finished with three hits. Jeremy Sassano shut the door in the ninth and did not allow a hit over the final 1.2 innings to pick up the win on the mound and move to 4-0 on the season.
Mitchell College picked up a non-conference split against Salve Regina University in dramatic fashion on Thursday afternoon, walking off with a 9-6 victory in the nightcap following a 4-1 setback in the opener. Hunter Yaworski clubbed a pair of three-run homers in the win, including the walk-off shot in the bottom of the ninth that secured the victory. The Mariners trailed 6-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth but rallied to tie the game, setting the stage for the dramatic finish in the ninth. In the day's first game, Salve Regina starter Patrick Maybach went the distance and held the Mariners to one run on three hits. Sean O'Malley delivered a pinch-hit single to plate the go-ahead run in the fifth, and Maybach kept Mitchell off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Both Mitchell (25-7 overall) and Salve Regina (14-5-1 overall) are preparing for postseason play. The NCAA Championship field will be announced on Sunday, May 23 at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Extra innings times two. Walk-offs times two. One thing's for certain, the opening day of the 2021 North Coast Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Series offered plenty of excitement on both sides, as The College of Wooster and Denison University are now set for a decisive game three on Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at Art Murray Field in Wooster, Ohio. Junior right fielder Ben Hines likely kept Wooster's (25-12) season alive with a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th, as the Fighting Scots won the nightcap 7-6. In game one, Hines' two-hole counterpart, Denison (22-11) first baseman Brian McAuliffe, laced a walk-off double into the left field corner, lifting the Big Red to a 5-4 win in the bottom of the 13th.