May 29, 2021

Moving Day

Aurora's Collin Meinert had one of the Spartans' big blasts, as his three-run shot in the seventh inning put the game out of reach against Trinity (Texas).
Photo by Wade Gardner, d3photography.com


Most teams on Saturday will have two choices, move on or move home. We are a day away, two for weather-plagued regionals, before we crown regional champions.

On Thursday, the day opened with pitchers taking control, keeping the day on schedule, but the afternoon turned stormy. On the fields where there was sunshine, the hits kept coming and any hope of staying on schedule evaporated. Out in Minnesota, two regionals did not have a chance to show what their teams had as Mother Nature rained on their parade.

Friday, it cleared for the St. Paul and Collegeville Regionals and they got in a full day of activity but the rain drifted east causing disruptions of the Marietta and Auburn Regionals. Both got in at least one game as the hosts try to stay on schedule. Only the High Point Regional has avoided the weather problems that delayed games.

In the day's first win, Marietta doubled its way to a 6-4 win to join Rowan with a 2-0 record in the Marietta Regional. Pioneer doubles accounted for four of the six runs scored, including the final two that gave Marietta a late game lead. In came OAC Pitcher of the Year, Sam Matthews and he pitched the final three innings for his eight save on the year. Mitchell also grabbed an early win doubling up Merchant Marine 4-2. Both pitchers pitched complete games as Mitchell's Camren Varney outdueled Tyler Reistetter. Varney gave up four hits and two unearned runs in the victory. Later in the day at Marietta, Rowan got an RBI hit batsman and a bases-loaded walk and that turned out to be all the Profs needed, as Rowan made those two runs stand up in a 2-0 win at Marietta. Eli Atiya went the first eight for Rowan, allowing just five hits to improve to 9-1, with Zach Listro working the ninth for his seventh save.

Down 7-2 after four innings, Aurora's bats came to life as the Spartans scored four in the fifth, one in the sixth and put up a seven-spot in the seventh inning on the way to a 14-9 win against Trinity (Texas). The Tigers were eliminated from the St. Paul Regional in Roseville, Minnesota. Corey Vondra struck a big blow with a grand slam in the seventh, and Collin Meinert followed with a three-run shot to blow the game open. And the Spartans cruised from there, as Jack Fisher, who entered the game in relief in the fifth, threw four and two-thirds shutout innings before giving up two meaningless runs in the ninth to improve to 3-0. It is the longest outing of the season for Fisher, who leads Aurora in ERA. Later on, Johns Hopkins scraped together two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 3-3, but Misericordia put up a five-spot in the seventh and three more in the ninth and ran away with an 11-4 win against the Blue Jays. The win keeps the Cougars alive in the St. Paul Regional in Roseville, Minnesota, while Johns Hopkins picked up its first loss of the postseason. In the St. Paul nightcap, Ryan Wolfe was nearly untouchable through seven innings, facing just two batters over the minimum, but Wolfe and his St. Mary's (Minn.) teammates threw the ball around the infield a bit in the eighth and Sam Peterson made them pay with a two-run double to the wall in left-center, giving Northwestern (Minn.) a 3-1 lead in a winners bracket game in the St. Paul Regional in Roseville, Minnesota. The Cardinals loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth but Bryce Crabb got Justin Weinberg on a deep fly ball to right to end the game. Crabb finished with the complete game, outdueling Wolfe.

Chapman sent Scranton packing as the Panthers scored in six of eight innings to eliminate the Royals by an 11-4 score. Chapman did its damage with the bottom of the order as Kyle Joye, Mike Gorman and Nick Kondo combined to go 9-for-14 on the afternoon, with four runs scored and six RBI. No. 6 batter Davis Mieliwocki went 3-for-3 as well in the victory.

Davis Mieliwocki slides in with the first run, on a Kyle Joye double against Scranton in the second game of the Collegeville Regional.
Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com
 

Birmingham Southern bounced back from yesterday's loss to Lynchburg in eliminating the W&J Presidents from the High Point Regional with a 9-2 win. Noah Best had the big hit as he homered out of the nine spot, adding three runs to a 2-0 score. W&J never was able to get the key hit as the Panthers stranded 12 Presidents on the day.

Cam Seymour hit a three-run homer and Bryce Afthim won his 10th game of the season with a complete game shutout as Southern Maine eliminated Oswego State with a 4-0 victory. Oswego stranded runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and sixth.

Home cooking is good for the Warhawks. UW-Whitewater is 2-0 in the Whitewater Regional with a 6-1 win over Penn State Harrisburg. Every Warhawk batter reached base, two on just free passes as UWW parleyed two three-run innings into the victory. Westin Muir continued the string of good play by the Warhawk starters. He gave the bullpen a day off in his six hit, 13 strikeout performance.

Top-seed St. Thomas built leads of 3-0, 7-3 and 8-6 but had to sweat out an 8-7 defeat of York to move to 2-0 in the tourney. Redshirt freshman OF Charlie Eldredge, in his first varsity start, had two solo homers, a double and a sacrifice and scored three runs. Eldredge came into Saturday 2-for-5 on the season at the plate but went 3-for-3. Two other redshirt freshmen, Sam Kulesa and Jake Porter, also homered for the Toms in the first inning, and Porter had a three-hit day. St. Thomas had just seven home runs in its first 37 games but stroked four today

R.J. Larocco lifted a sacrifice fly after the bases were loaded and Webster walked away with a 4-3 win over Transylvania in an elimination game in the Decatur Regonal. The Gorloks were outhit, 10-6, but scored single runs in the seventh and ninth innings to post the come-from-behind win over the Pioneers. Penn State Behrend did not give N.C. Wesleyan many opportunities and took advantage of theirs in a 7-3 win over the Bishops. Ryan Weaver went 6+ innings for the win and got some help from Juston Jones who recorded his second save. The offense was balanced with every one in on the scoring from leadoff to the nine hole hitter.

Tufts continued their surprise run with a 8-2 win over Keystone. The runner-up in the NESCAC, Tufts got the playoff bid when Amherst declined. They are now 2-0 n the Auburn Regonal. Peter DeMaria was the start in the offense, falling a home run short of the cycle. Out in the Hartford Regional, Southern Maine stays alive by defeating Oswego State 4-0 in game seven. The Huskies freshmen took the starting roles as Bryce Afthim threw an eight-hitter, walking four and striking out five. Fellow first year, Cam Seymour had the big hit with a three-run home run in the fifth.

Down five runs with nothing on the board through seven innings, the bus driver was warming up the bus. Merchant Marine then made an comeback for the ages. Four runs in the eighth and three in the ninth with the walkoff tally coming on a balk, gave the Mariners a 7-6 win over the Giant and another game in the Auburn Regional. Washington continued their streak of quality starts with another sparkling effort in a 8-1 win over Denison. Troy Bauer was the pitcher of record, allowing three hits in his seven inning of work. Kyle Coates finished the game with two scoreless innings. Salve also avoid elimination with a 4-2 win over Johnston and Wales. Ever since opening with a 5-4 loss to Wheaton (Mass.), the Seahawks have rattled of two wins, eliminating both the top seed Southern Maine and the bottom seed, Johnston and Wales.

Salisbury took on Lynchburg, the only two undefeated teams in the High Point Regional. It was to be an afternoon game but lightning in the area pushed it to a night start. The Sea Gulls' Jackson Balzan pitched a gem, allowing three hits and a season high 12 strikeouts for a 6-1 win. Clayon Dwyer, the C2C Pitcher of the Year and game one starter pitched he final inning. Salisbury is now in the cat-bird's seat, and will only need one win to advance to the D-III World Series. Pacific is also undefeated after a 4-3 win over Texas-Dallas in the Collegeville Regional. The Boxers answered every challenage by the Comets, scoring runs, when ever UTD scored.

Texas Lutheran kept their title hope alive with a 5-2 win over Luther, sending the Norse back south. Luther opened with two runs in the first but the Bulldogs countered with three of their own and let their pitching protect the lead. Denison did the same in their game with Webster. The Big Red ended the Gorloks' season with a 8-2 win. Denison scored six in the second and made it stand. Danny Alverez and Will Krushena hit two-run doubles in back-to-back at-bats as part of the six run frame.

Junior James Sinclair pitched 8.1 innings of four-hit baseball to lead the top-seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 4-1 victory over the third-seeded Wheaton Lyons in game nine of the Hartford Regional. The win vaults the Huskies, 34-10 overall, into Sunday’s championship game against the winner of the game between Wheaton and Salve Regina. Scott Roberts and Bailey Gauthier combined on a 3-0 shutout of Mitchell to move the Cortland Red Dragons into the Championship round.

Regional Websites: Auburn | Collegeville | Decatur | Hartford | High Point | Marietta | St. Paul | Whitewater

Check out the D3baseball.com Regional Scoreboard for in game scores results and links. As the action continues, you can take a break from what you are doing and get a full picture where each teams stands at the scoreboard.

We will be updating this story with game summaries as we highlight the action with links to games stories so check back often to keep up with all the action.