| St. Thomas is showing signs
of the same Midwest dominance that it did at the turn of the
century. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com |
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Final - 10 innings
at UW-Stevens Point 6, Benedictine 5
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May 17: All times Eastern Final - 10 innings
at St. Scholastica 3, UW-Whitewater 2
Box Score
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By Ricky Nelson
D3sports.com
What was already written in permanent marker before the season began can now be carved in granite; St. Thomas, UW-Whitewater and St. Scholastica are all at the same regional. In related news, the sun rose in the east this morning.
If those three are the Norms of this annual get-together, then UW-Stevens Point is at least the Cliff Clavin. After a one-year regional hiatus, the Pointers head back to Whitewater after clinching the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference there last weekend. UST, UWW, CSS and UWSP, everybody knows your names.
Benedictine is the Frasier Crane of the regional. Like Frasier, Benedictine isn’t in every episode of this regional – it last made the NCAA tournament in 2003 – but the Eagles are entertaining. Norms, Cliff and Frasier, meet Case Western Reserve, a Pool B qualifier from the University Athletic Association.
The five Midwest Region teams have played each other plenty already this season. UW-Whitewater is 7-2 against this year’s regional field. St. Thomas is 3-3, Benedictine is 1-1, UW-Stevens Point is 4-5, and St. Scholastica is 1-5.
Case hasn’t played a Midwest team, but it has played regional qualifiers Washington and Jefferson, Wooster, and Marietta. The Spartans went 4-2 against that upper crust of their own Mideast Region, including a doubleheader sweep over the two-time defending national champions in early May.
No surprise, this regional is loaded once again. Cheers.
Midwest Regional schedule
Wednesday, May 15
Game 1 - No. 1 St. Thomas (33-5) vs. No. 6 St. Scholastica (27-9),
12 p.m.
Game 2 - No. 2 UW-Stevens Point (35-9) vs. No. 5 Benedictine
(32-10), 3:30 p.m.
Game 3 - No. 3 UW-Whitewater (34-7) vs. No. 4 Case Western Reserve
(27-12), 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 16
Game 4 - St. Thomas vs Benedictine, 12 p.m.
Game 5 - St. Scholastica vs Case Western Reserve, 3 p.m.
Game 6 - UW-Stevens Point vs UW-Whitewater, 6 p.m.
Friday, May
17
Game 7 -St. Scholastica vs UW-Whitewater, 12 p.m.
Game 8 - St. Thomas vs Case Western Reserve, 3 p.m.
Game 9 - UW-Stevens Point vs Winner Game 7, 6 p.m.
If two teams remain after game
9, Saturday, May 18
Game 10 - Winner Game 8 vs Winner Game 9, 12 p.m.
Game 11 - Repeat of Game 10 (if needed), 3 p.m.
If three teams remain after game
9, Saturday, May
18
Game 10 - Winner Game 8 vs Loser Game 9, 12 p.m.
Game 11 - Winner Game 9 vs Winner Game 10, 3 p.m.
Favorite
St. Thomas. If the old chestnut holds true that pitching and defense wins at this time of year, then the Tommies are the national championship contenders that the seeds and national polls suggest. St. Thomas is the only team at the regional with an ERA under 3.00 and once again ranks in the top five nationally with its .977 fielding percentage. That’s Tommies baseball. By the way, St. Thomas also has the highest batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage among the six regional teams.
Most likely to disappoint
Case Western Reserve. The committee provided the Spartans a difficult draw. First up is a UW-Whitewater team that’s 23-3 on its home field this season. The Warhawks were the visitors on the scoreboard in two of those three losses, and one of the losses took 19 innings. If Case were to lose to UW-Whitewater, St. Thomas could be the next opponent. That hardly seems ideal.
Cinderella
Benedictine. The Eagles are familiar with the WIAC portion of the regional. Benedictine thumped first-round opponent UW-Stevens Point, 13-5, in Florida. UW-Whitewater beat the Eagles, 9-5, the next day. Benedictine has put up runs all season. If that trend holds through this week, the Eagles could stick around longer than many think they will. When at their best, 41-year head coach John Ostrowski has a team that can beat anyone.
Players to Watch
UT - Dylan Thomas, St. Thomas (7-2, 2.15 ERA, 54.1 IP, 59 K;
.375 AVG, 5 HR, 1.156 OPS)
C - Ryan Schilter, UW-Stevens Point (.382 AVG, 63 R, 12 2B, 9 HR,
44 RBI, 118 TB, 1.067 OPS)
1B - Marty Herum, UW-Whitewater (.430 AVG, 48 R, 22 2B, 7 HR, 42
RBI, 122 TB, 1.209 OPS)
SP - Jarrett Gish, Case Western Reserve (7-0, 1.95 ERA, 78.1 IP,
52 K, .225 OBA)
OF - Tim Hendricks, Benedictine (.426 AVG, 54 R, 18 2B, 4 HR, 18
SB, 111 TB, 1.133)
OF - Kyle Flagstad, St. Scholastica (.390 AVG, 50 R, 12 2B, 35
RBI, 20 SB, 78 TB, 1.114 OPS)