By Jim Dixon
D3sports.com
CEDAR RAPIDS - Momentum is a fickle thing. Adrian had it all to themselves in the first couple innings but it slowly slipped across the diamond to the St. Thomas dugout. With Mo on their side, St. Thomas defeated the Adrian Bulldogs 7-5 in the second game of the D-III World Series.
- D3baseball.com World Series Scoreboard
- World Series: Day one
- D-III World Series Record Book
- The D3baseball.com World Series Program
- D-III World Series Bracket
- 2021 was anything but usual
It has been this that kind of year for us," said St. Thomas head coach Chris Olean. "This was one of our normal games."
Adrian swung their bats early and and looked like it was going to be their day early with a four run first. Thomas Miller opened the game with a double to right and scored when Kevin Cardentey's hit squeezed through the right side of the infield. With the bases loaded, Joe Casale's drive into the gap cleared the sacks.
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| Adrian had Andrew Tri on the ropes early but the Tommies righthander settled down and his offense picked him up as St. Thomas defeated Adrian 7-5. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
The teams traded runs in the third. A double and a groundout put Brandon Cooper on third. He scored when the Tommie's shortstop misplayed the ball. St. Thomas got their run when Max Moris walked and moved into scoring position on Jake Porter's single. Charlie Bartholomew single to right brought in Moris.
St. Thomas drew closer with a run in the fourth when Moris' doubled down the rightfield line plated Matthew Enck.
In the fifth St. Thomas tied up the game and grabbed all the momentum that the Bulldogs had after the first. A leadoff walk scored on Charlie Eldredge's single to left and Eldredge scored on Enck's infield single.
Having grabbed the momentum, St. Thomas also grabbed the lead. Moris was the man of the moment again. On his grounder, the Adrain pitcher threw home too late to catch a speedy Eldredge.
"We certainly don't want to just be happy to be here," said Olean. "We want to take the best of our last year. It gives us more fuel to win."