GAME BOXSCORE
MIAC PLAYOFFS WEBPAGE

DUNDAS, Minn. -- Jeff Butler (FY, Prior Lake, Minn.), Adam Seaman (SO, Richfield, Minn.) and Donald Blunt (JR, Richfield, Minn.) hit home runs for Augsburg College, but the Auggies' saw their baseball season come to an end with a 19-9 loss to the University of St. Thomas in the Minnesota Intercolleigate Athletic Conference playoff championship game on Sunday afternoon at Dundas Memorial Park.

A six-run fourth inning and five-run fifth inning gave St. Thomas (33-7) the lead to stay, as the Tommies pounded out 20 hits, including three home runs and two doubles. St. Thomas, the defending NCAA Division III national champions and No. 5-ranked team nationally, received the conference's automatic berth to the upcoming NCAA tournament.

Augsburg ended its season at 21-22 overall, as it entered the championship game with a chance to become the first No. 4 seed to win the title in the 11-year history of the MIAC playoffs. The Auggies' MIAC tournament berth was the second in program history, and the 21-win season marked the third 20-plus-win campaign in head coach Keith Bateman's seven seasons at Augsburg. The Auggies have recorded at least 16 wins in each season of Bateman's tenure.

Augsburg took the early lead in Sunday's contest, as Seaman hit a two-run homer to straightaway center field in the first inning, his second home run of the weekend and team- and MIAC-leading eighth homer of the season. St. Thomas scored four runs in the top of the second inning, but the Auggies took the lead back in the bottom of the second, as Mason Holmquist (JR, Prior Lake, Minn.) hit a two-run double and John Demgen (JR, Minneapolis, Minn./South HS) stroked a run-scoring single.

The Tommies sent 11 batters to the plate and collected five hits and six runs in the top of the fourth inning, then sent nine batters to the plate and collected five hits and five runs in the top of the fifth inning. Three more runs came across for the Tommies in the seventh frame.

Augsburg scored twice in the fifth inning, as Butler hit his second home run of the weekend -- and second collegiate home run -- and Seaman hit an RBI single. One run came across for the Auggies in the sixth inning on a passed ball, and the final run of the season for the Auggies was scored in the bottom of the ninth, with Blunt stroking a solo homer to left field.

Seaman and Blunt had three hits apiece for the Auggies, while Butler had two hits.

For St. Thomas, Tayler Rahm (JR, Savage, Minn./Holy Angels HS) had four hits, incluiding a double, and Drew Cremisino (JR, Forest Lake, Minn.) hit two home runs. Roy Larson (SR, Eagan, Minn.) also stroked a home run among his three hits, while Brady Field (JR, St. Paul, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) also had three hits.