No. 6-ranked Salisbury won its first NCAA Division III Baseball championship capping off a two-game sweep of St. Thomas with Tuesday's 4-2 win in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The Sea Gulls (34-4), who won their final 14 games of the 2021 season, had 12 hits in each of the two wins over the Tommies. They put runners on base in each of the first six innings on Monday in building the 6-1 lead that was the eventual final score. On Tuesday, they put runners on base in each of the first eight innings.
Over the same two days, St. Thomas recorded 15 hits, but all were singles. The Purple stranded 15 runners and hit into four double plays over the two days while scoring just three runs. In the final three innings alone on Tuesday, they stranded four runners in scoring position.
Trailing 4-1 into the bottom of the ninth inning on Tuesday, the Tommies loaded the bases with two out and forced a Salisbury pitching change. Josh Thorp's hard grounder to shortstop was misplayed for an error to cut the deficit to 4-2. But Charlie Bartholomew's liner toward the corner in left field was caught for the final out.
St. Thomas (37-10) needed a victory to even the series and force and afternoon rematch. The Toms scratched out 15 baserunners -- including 10 via hits and three via Sea Gull errors -- but left 11 on base and hit into two double plays.
The Tommies scored a run in the third inning for a 1-0 lead, after putting together four one-out singles. Avery Lehman's RBI single plated that run. But Salisbury converted a tailor-made double play with a 6-U-3 on a hard hit ball over second to escape the inning.
The Sea Gulls scored three runs in the fourth inning to take the lead for good, and added an insurance run in the seventh. Benji Thalheimer started and allowed one run in 4 1-3 innings. Corey Burton was credited with one unearned runs in 4 1-3 innings of sharp relief. All-America starter Clayton Dwyer (10-0) came on for the save as he faced two batters and denied the Tommie comeback.
St. Thomas starter Andrew Tri worked seven-plus innings and allowed four runs on 11 hits with one walk and three hit batters. He fanned seven. Tommie closer T.J. Constertina worked out of a jam in the eighth and had a 1-2-3 ninth for another strong postseason outing.
Two redshirt freshmen led the Toms at the plate -- Sam Kulesa went 3-for-5, and Matthew Enck was 2-for-4.
Tuesday's game ended St. Thomas' Division III athletics era as they will start play in Division I in all sports next fall. This was St. Thomas' 14th NCAA runner-up team finish in six sports to go with the university's 16 national team championships. In seven baseball appearances in the Division III College World Series, St. Thomas took first in 2001 and 2009; second in 1999, 2000 and 2021; and third in 2012 and 2014.