Baseball 5/13/05 -- MIAC Playoffs -- St. Thomas 4, Augsburg 1 

GAME BOXSCORE


DUNDAS, Minn. (5/13/05) -- Back-to-back doubles by Eric Bloom and Mike Kimlinger in the fifth inning gave the University of St. Thomas the lead, and a two-run triple by Josh Howard in the eighth inning provided the insurance runs, as the Tommies rallied for a 4-1 victory over Augsburg College in the first game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball playoffs at Dundas Memorial Park.

With the win, St. Thomas (28-10), the MIAC's regular-season champions, remains in the winners bracket and will face Concordia-Moorhead (18-19), which beat St. Olaf (23-16) 5-1 in the other first-round game on Friday. The game will be at 7 p.m. at Dundas. St. Thomas won its sixth straight first-round game in the MIAC playoffs.

Augsburg (22-17), in its first-ever MIAC playoff appearance, will face St. Olaf in an elimination game on Friday at 7 p.m. at Sechler Park in Northfield, Minn.

Augsburg took an early lead, as Jeff Stomberg (Fr., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) reached on a leadoff error and scored after a double-play grounder in the first inning.

But that was all the Auggies could get against Tommie starter Chris Bullis, a freshman who earned his first collegiate complete-game victory in his longest outing (his previous longest outing was four innings). He struck out five while not walking a batter and only allowing five Augsburg hits. Bullis retired the last 11 Augsburg hitters in order, shutting down the side in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

With two outs in the fifth inning, Bloom and Kimlinger hit back-to-back doubles, tying the game. A single by Brett Olson plated the second run for the Tommies and drove Augsburg starter Jeremy Nelson (Sr., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS) from the game.

Nelson lasted 4.2 innings, striking out one while walking two and allowing five hits. Adam Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) pitched the rest of the way for the Auggies.

In the eighth, Howard hit a triple to left field, just off the glove of left fielder Ricky Schreier (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS), which plated two insurance runs for the Tommies.

Howard went 2-for-4 for the Tommies, while Andrew Werner (Fr., Vermillion, Minn./Hastings HS) and Matt Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS) had two hits each for the Auggies.