Dylan Thomas and Steve Maher had dominant pitching performances and combined for 22 strikeouts in 14 innings to lead No. 5-ranked St. Thomas to Tuesday's MIAC baseball sweep of visiting St. John's at UST's Koch Diamond.
The Tommies ran their win streak to 11 as they won 2-1 and 5-0, and in the process handed the Johnnies their first conference defeats. UST (20-4 overall, 8-0 MIAC) has swept 10 consecutive conference doubleheaders since April 2011. The Toms had no errors on the day and lowered their team ERA to 2.33. St. John's (16-8, 4-2) was limited to five hits and one run on the day.
UST opened up a two-game lead in the conference race over second-place Macalester (6-2), which had two close home wins over Bethel.
Thomas (3-2), a junior RHP who pitched his last two seasons in junior college, threw a one-hit shutout in game two with no walks and 11 strikeouts. He hit one batter in the fifth inning to lose a perfect game, and gave up Dylan Graves' leadoff double in the sixth inning to lose a no-hit bid. Thomas retired the other 21 batters he faced and has won his last two starts, both in a seven-day span.
Maher (8-0) struck out 11 and held St. John's to four hits, two walks and one run in the complete-game outing in game one. The sophomore RHP, also a junior-college transfer, lowered his season ERA to 1.29 and now has seven wins and five complete games in his seven starts.
The first game was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning when UST erupted. Charles Bruchu singled with one out, stole second and scored the go-ahead run on a two-out single by Thomas. Dan Reichert followed with an RBI single to second base for a 3-1 lead.
Maher outdueled Johnnie ace Hayden Zimmerman, who allowed six hits, two earned runs and one walk with three strikeouts over six innings. Zimmerman retired 14 Tommies in a row from the first inning into the fifth inning after giving up a first-inning run when a two-out bases-loaded infield single by Reichert. St. John's scored its lone run in the fourth inning on two singles and Bert Marsnik's sacrifice fly.
Maher worked out of a sixth-inning jam after he walked the first two batters with the score tied 1-1. The runners moved to second and third on a ground out. SJU tried to score the lead runner on a subsequent grounder to first base, but Reichert's throw and J.D. Dorgan's tag easily gunned down the runner sprinting from third base. Maher struck out the next batter but he reached on a wild pitch to load the bases. Maher came back with another strike out to end the threat and stay tied 1-1.
In game two, Jon Kinsel's RBI single started a three-run fifth inning. Ben Podobinski added a two-run single in the sixth inning to push the lead to five.
Dan Reichert had three hits and two RBI on the day to lead UST.
St. Thomas plays Saturday at St. Olaf (1 p.m.).
Click here for Game 1 box score:
http://www.tommiesports.com/bsbl/stats/4-10bb1.htm
Click here for Game 2 box score:
http://www.tommiesports.com/bsbl/stats/4-10-bb2.htm