Baseball 5/8/05 -- St. Thomas 9-5, Augsburg 2-4

GAME 1 BOXSCORE 
GAME 2 BOXSCORE


ST. PAUL, Minn. (5/8/05) -- Senior Josh Howard's pinch-hit, three-run homer with two outs in the sixth inning erased a 4-2 deficit and the University of St. Thomas held on for a 5-4 victory over Augsburg College and a sweep of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader Sunday on the Tommies' diamond.

In game one, Mike Kimlinger and Jordan Roering homered and the 25th-ranked Tommies scored in every inning to post a 9-2 victory.

With the sweep, St. Thomas (26-10 overall, 17-3 MIAC) clinched the MIAC title outright and secured the No. 1 seed for next weekend's four-team conference playoffs. It's the Tommies' seventh conference regular-season title in the last 10 years.

Augsburg (21-15 overall, 11-7 MIAC) is still in the MIAC playoff race, but the Auggies missed a prime chance to help their tie-breaker chances. The Auggies play Concordia Monday (5/9) at 12 noon at Faber Field in St. Cloud to finish the MIAC regular season. St. Olaf and St. Thomas are in the playoffs already, with Concordia, Augsburg and Gustavus having the best chace to grab the last two spots. Gustavus hosts St. John's in the other key league doubleheader on Monday.

Senior Brett Olson was 4-for-6 on the day to lead an 18-hit attack. Senior Brian Krause pitched in both games -- getting the game-two win capped by a 1-2-3 seventh -- and now has 84 career appearances for third place on the NCAA Division III list.

St. Thomas now has hit 16 home runs in its last seven games and went 6-1 in that stretch. The Toms, who have won 16 of their last 18 games, improved to 25-3 at home over the last three seasons.

Jeff Stomberg (Fr., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) had four hits on the day to lead Augsburg.

UST saw a 2-0 lead turn into a 4-2 deficit in game two. A three-run fourth inning put Augsburg ahead 3-2. Stomberg singled and scored on a single by Troy Deden (Jr., Northfield, Minn.), Darren Ginther (Jr., Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch, and Taylor Pagel (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn.) reached base and scored on a single by Andrew Werner (Fr., Vermillion, Minn./Hastings HS).

An Auggie leadoff triple by Ginther and squeeze bunt by Deden scored another run in the top of the sixth.

One out-singles by Chris Bullis and Jake Schraufnagel put the tying runs on base for St. Thomas in the bottom of the sixth. Auggie ace reliever Tyler Kraft (So., Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS) came on to get a strikeout, but surrendured Howard's towering shot to left field on the first pitch. Howard has hit three clutch home runs this year in comeback MIAC wins.

Augsburg starter Adam Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) pitched one of the best performances of his career in the second game, striking out six while not walking a batter in his 5.1 innings of work.

In game one, Tommie sophomore Will Montgomery struck out eight and allowed one unearned run in 4 1-3 innings to move to 3-0 on the season. He struck out three batters in the third with the bases loaded.

Kimlinger's two-run homer in the second put the Toms ahead 3-0. Bullis tripled and scored on a Sean Young sacrifice fly for a 4-1 lead. Olson came all the way around to make it 5-1 as he tripled and scored when a relay throw was bobbled. Erik Maursetter added a pinch-hit RBI double.

Augsburg starter Werner gave up six runs, though just three were earned as the Auggies committed five errors in the first game. Aaron Dahl (So., Cottonwood, Minn./Lakeview HS) and Josh Remme (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) pitched in relief.