No. 19-ranked St. Thomas Baseball pounded 13 hits and rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to post a 7-5 win over No. 10-ranked Adrian (Mich.) Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Division III World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

 

Redshirt freshmen Charlie Eldedge and Mathew Enck each had three hits on the day, and true freshman Max Moris added a pair of RBI hits for the Tommies (35-8), who recorded their third consecutive comeback win and improved to 9-3 on the postseason.

 

Coach Chris Olean's team earned a winners' bracket ticket to Saturday to face No. 1-ranked Washington (Mo.) at 1:15 p.m. The Bears scored six runs in the eighth inning to snap a 3-3 tie and beat Johns Hopkins, 9-3.

 

Joe Casale's bases-loaded double capped a four-run first inning for Adrian. A two-out throwing error in the top of the third inning pushed the lead to 5-0. 

 

But St. Thomas starter Andrew Tri was stingy the rest of his stint. The senior retired 10 of his last 12 batters and left in the top of the eighth with one on and one out and the Purple holding a 6-5 lead. Tri struck out eight and allowed four earned runs.

 

T.J. Constertina came on to record his sixth save, getting a bases-loaded strikeout in the top of the eighth inning to strand three. In the ninth, Adrian put two on with nobody out, but Moris gunned down the lead runner at third base on a bunt, and the Toms closed out the victory with their second double-play grounder of the game. 

 

In six postseason appearances, Constertina is 2-0 with three saves and a 0.87 ERA.

 

Trailing 5-0, The Tommies scored one run in the third, one in the fourth and tied it with three more in the fifth. They went ahead in the seventh inning on an infield grounder/fielder's choice as Eldredge raced in from third to beat the tag at home plate.

 

Kyle Halverson added an RBI single in the eighth inning for an insurance run, and later started a 5-U-3 game-ending double play.