St. Thomas Baseball doesn't wow opponents in the pre-game with its stats, size, athleticism or an upperclass roster. It rarely strikes fear in the early innings as a singles-hitting team that loves the sac bunt.
But when the game is on the line in the final innings, the Tommies continue to show the kind of grit and poise that makes for championship teams.
The 19th-ranked Tommies did it again Sunday, beating the No. 1-ranked team in the nation for the second day in a row. They recorded their fifth comeback victory in as many games as they scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning to outlast No. 1-ranked Washington (Mo.) 6-4.
An at-large qualifier for the NCAA playoffs, St. Thomas (37-8) moved to 3-0 in the College World Series and 8-1 in all NCAA tournaments as it secured a spot in the best-of-three championship series. If Salisbury (Md.) wins later Sunday, it will face St. Thomas. If the Gulls' lose, they play a rematch game Monday to determine the Toms' opponent.
Playing its second elimination game of the day, Wash U. finished its season 34-6.
The Purple's postseason record improves to 11-3 and includes two walk-off wins and seven other comeback victories.
St. Thomas is 23-3 in its last 26 games. In the 23 wins it has scored nearly half of its runs after the sixth inning, outscoring opponents by a 77-31 margin in the seventh inning and beyond.
Sunday was another balanced effort for St. Thomas. It included a strong start by true freshman pitcher Kolby Gartner; lights-out relief work by redshirt sophomore closer T.J. Constertina; and eight different Tommies contributing a run or an RBI.
Trailing 4-3, redshirt freshman Matthew Enck led off the top of the ninth inning and was hit by a pitch. A relief pitcher came on and true freshman Max Moris's bunt was fielded but thrown into center field as the Bears' pitcher tried unsuccessfully to get the lead runner out at second base. The wild throw allowed Enck to take third base and set runners at the corners with none out. A fielder's choice erased one runner at second for the first out, but senior Avery Lehman's safety squeeze bunt towards first scored the tying run while registering the second out.
After redshirt freshman Jake Porter walked, redshirt soph Charlie Bartholomew and senior Kyle Halverson followed with two-out singles to score the go-ahead and insurance runs for the 6-4 lead.
Constertina retired all seven batters he faced to take the victory, with three strikeouts. He came on to pitch in the bottom of the seventh with the Toms already down 4-3 and runners at the corners with one out. An unsuccessful squeeze play by the Bears allowed the Toms to tag out a hung-up runner near third base, and Constertina would get the next seven outs and get the win.
In seven postseason appearances, Constertina is 3-0 with three saves and a 0.68 ERA.
Gartner allowed two runs, six hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over six innings before leaving with a 3-2 lead. He has allowed just two earned runs in 15 innings in the NCAA playoffs after pitching just 9.1 innings in the regular season.
Lehman's tying squeeze bunt in the ninth inning was St. Thomas' 57th sac bunt of the season, tops in Division III.
St. Thomas scored an unearned run in the third inning on Porter's two out single. They added a run in the sixth inning after two were out on a double by Charlie Eldredge and an RBI triple to center by Josh Thorp.
After Wash U tied the game with two runs in the sixth, the Toms regained the lead 3-2 on a two-out throwing error in the top of the seventh. The Bears had four errors to none for St. Thomas, contributing to four unearned runs for the Purple.
Wash U. used a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to regain the lead at 4-3 but missed chances to add more. The Bears got three strikeouts in the top of the eighth but couldn't close out the Tommies in the top of the ninth.