(MARIETTA, Ohio) –The seventh-seeded Thomas More College baseball team fell, 6-2, to 20th-ranked and second-seeded Case Western Reserve University tonight (Wednesday, May 14, 2014) in a first round game of the Mideast Regional of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship at Don Schaly Stadium in Marietta, Ohio. The teams waited out a two-hour 27-minute delay prior to the first pitch. The game marked the second straight NCAA regional game that the Saints' game has extended into two games, as Thomas More and Washington & Jefferson College played a 15-inning game on May 17 and 18, 2013 at the 2013 Mideast Regional.
With the loss, the Saints fall to 23-18 and will play sixth-seeded John Carroll University tomorrow at 1 p.m. in an elimination game. With the win, the Spartans improve to 31-10 and will play seventh-ranked and third-seeded Salisbury University at 8 p.m. in a winner's bracket game.
Case plated two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 2-0 lead. The Saints cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the third when senior shortstop Tyler Graber (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) scored on a run batted-in single by senior first baseman Craig Hyson (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas).
The Spartans answered with three runs in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 5-1. Case added a run in the eighth to increase lead to 6-1. Thomas More cut the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth when senior right fielder Cody Makin (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) scored on a RBI single by junior catcher Brad Popham (Edgewood, Ky./Dixie Heights). That wasn't enough as Case on the game 6-2.
Sophomore pitcher Logan Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) suffered the loss as he pitched eight innings and gave up six runs (four earned) on 12 hits, while striking out three.
Thomas More was led at the plate by Graber, who was two-for-three with a run scored and Popham, who was two-for-four with a RBI. Hyson was one-for-four with a RBI.