By Jim Dixon
D3sports.com
All the pressure of needing to win was on the shoulders of St. Thomas as they needed two wins if their swan song in D-III was We are the Champions. The Disney story line was not going to happen as Salisbury defeated St. Thomas 4-2 to claim their first D-III College World Series here at Memorial Stadium on Perfect Game field in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
"We grounded out another one," said Salisbury head coach Troy Brahawn. "Our guys got some timely hitting and we got some big outs too. I want to thank the players, coaches and our alumni for their support."
"This is bittersweet but we have noting to hang our heads about," said St. Thomas Chris Olean. "We would be like to be playing a second game. I am just super proud of our guys . At the end of the day, they were better."
- Championship Game One: Salisbury 2, St. Thomas 1
- World Series Stories: Day one | Day two | Day three
- D3baseball.com World Series Scoreboard
- D-III World Series Record Book
- The D3baseball.com World Series Program
- D-III World Series Bracket
- 2021 was anything but usual
Pitching was the early story and Salisbury's Benji Thalheimer dueled St. Thomas's Andrew Tri. Both pitchers got into trouble as they went through the batting order the second time.
"The win [yesterday] took a lot of pressure away," said Thalheimer. "All I thought about was giving it all I had and throw strikes."
"Coming into the game, I felt like I had everything I needed to compete," said Tri. "In the third I got a little tired but battled through it. I had the motivation to continue through the seventh."
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| Troy Brohawn is the second coach to win a D-III College World Series and a MLB World Series as a player. Photo by Steve Fommell, d3photography.com | More photos from this game |
"Andrew battled his butt off," said Olean "He gave us a chance ."
The first threat for either team come in the third. St Thomas loaded the bases with three straight singles with Matthew Enck standing on third. Avery Lehman made it four hits in-a-row with a single to shallow right. Josh Thorp, who moved up in the batting order due to the Jake Porter injury, grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Salisbury proved, they still had a little thunder in their bats with a three run fourth. Sky Rahill started it off with a single to center. Cameron Hyder and Luke Weddell joined Rahill on the bases as both were hit by pitches. Cullen McAuliffe got a hit to drive in Rahill. Following a Justin Meekins strikeout, Kavi Caster's safety to right field plated the two whom Tri hit earlier in the inning.
Pitching and defense reasserted themselves in the middle of the game as both teams had opportunities but could not cash in. In the fifth, Thalheimer ran out of gas in his longest stint this year and was replaced by Corey Burton.
Salsibury added to their lead in the seventh with a single run. Salisbury got the leadoff runner on base for the third time in the game when Stephen Rice singled to left. Hyder's drive to left center put runners on the corners. St. Thomas needed the same double play Salisbury turned in the fourth but could only get the lead runner as Rice came home.
St. Thomas mounted a comeback that fell short. A one-out error gave life to the Tommie faithful and with a single and a walk, the sacks were full but two outs had been recorded. Brohawn opted to go to his All-American pitcher and after Thorp reached on an error, scoring Enck, Charlie Bartholomew flew out to Kavi Caster to end the game and the 2021 D-III season.
"I knew I had to get this," said Caster. "it is special to make the last out."
"There is a sense of calmness with these guys," said Brohawn. "We don't play up or play down to out opponents."
Corey Burton earned the win. He went 4.1 innings in relieve of Thalheimer. He allowed one run, unearned, on four hits and a walk. he struck out three. The freshman starter, Thalheimer pitched 4.1 innings. He gave up one run, earned, on six hits and a walk. He had one strikeout. Clayton Dywer earned the save. He faced two batters (error and flyout) in 0.1 innings.
Andrew Tri took the loss. He pitched 7 innings, allowing four earned runs on 11 hits and a walk. He struck out seven. TJ Constertina finished the game out for St. Thomas. In two shutout innings, he allowed just one hit and struck out two.
Rahill lead all Salisbury hitters with three hits on the afternoon. Caster had two RBIs. Four Sea Gulls scored one run apiece.
Kulesa had three hits for the Tommies. Lehman and Thorp had the only RBIs and Thorp scored twice.
Two hours after all the celebrations, the teams are off to celebrate or commiserate and the scene at Perfect Game Field is that of quiet as the staff prepares for another day of baseball.