WHITEWATER, Wis. -– J.D. Dorgan slugged a two-run homer and Dylan Thomas allowed one earned run over eight innings as top-seed St. Thomas edged No. 4-seed UW-Whitewater, 5-3, in Thursday play at the NCAA regional tournament in Whitewater, Wis. 

The win kept the No. 4 St. Thomas (36-8) in the winners' bracket of the eight-team, double-elimination tournament. The Tommies will face sixth-seed St. Scholastica, a 8-4 winner in 13 innings over Aurora. That game at 4 p.m. Friday will determine who advances to the championship game on Saturday.

Thomas, a junior, threw 134 pitches. He won his sixth consecutive start and lowreed his ERA to 2.42. Thomas handed the ball and a 5-3 lead to the Tommies' ace, Steve Maher, in the ninth, for only his second relief appearance of the year. Maher issued a walk and the runner moved to second on a wild pitch, but Maher struck out the next two batters on curveballs and induced a game-ending groundout.

Whitewater jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second but the Tommies responded with three runs in the bottom half. Dorgan hit a two-run homer after a walk to Charles Bruchu. John Means, starting only his third game at first base this year, doubled down the right field line and came in to score on Jack Hogan's double. 

The Warhawks tied the game in the third, scoring two unearned runs after having nobody on and two outs, on a double, a walk, an infield error and a two-run single. 

St. Thomas took the lead for good in the fourth on an unearned run. Second baseman Sam Miller singled, moved to second on a fielder's choice grounder and scored when the Whitewater left fielder bobbled a Kuzniar single. 

The pitchers then took over. Thomas held Whitewater to two hits over the next four innings, and Warhawk relievers retired 10 Tommies in a row until Dorgan's one-out walk in the eighth. Up stepped Means, already with one double to his credit. Dorgan scored easily from second on the double to give Maher a two-run cushion in the ninth.