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Larry Radloff

Saints Advance to Regional Final

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Andy Davis earned the complete-game victory in his first NCAA Regional appearance.

WIll face UW-Whitewater and will have to defeat the Warhawks twice on Saturday.

Box Score Box Score
Whitewater Regional Web Site

WHITEWATER, Wis. – The St. Scholastica baseball team once again kept its season alive with a 2-1 victory over the University of St. Thomas on Friday at the NCAA Regional Tournament on Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium.

The victory eliminated the Tommies (28-18), while Hamline University was eliminated earlier in the day, meaning the Saints are the only Minnesota school remaining. The Saints (37-6) move on to face the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, who eliminated UW-Stevens Point in the final game of the day. The Saints will have to defeat the Warhawks twice as UWW is unbeaten in the regional.

St. Thomas threw its ace, senior Kris Edwards, while the Saints went with freshman Andy Davis (Chippewa Falls, Wis./McDonell HS ).

After a scoreless first inning, the Saints struck first in the second. Scott Greening (Antigo, Wis./Antigo HS (Mesabi CC)) led off the inning with a single. After a sacrifice moved him to second, he scored on a Jake Casareto (International Falls, Minn./Falls HS) single.

The Tommies knotted the game up in the bottom of the fourth on a Tayler Rahm RBI double. However, the biggest play of the inning came right before that when Kyle Moody (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo HS ) picked off Drew Cremisino at second. Otherwise, it would have been a Tommies lead after the double.

With the game still tied in the sixth, Joe Link (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury HS) singled to start the inning. Link then stole second and advanced all the way home on a St. Thomas error to make it a 2-1 Saints lead.

That is all the run support that Davis needed as he allowed just two hits the final four innings and did not allow a runner to reach second base in that span for the complete-game victory. His final stat line was nine innings, two strikeouts, no walks, scattered seven hits, while allowing just the one run.

The Saints had their highest hit total at the regional thus far with nine hits with Brandon Peterson (Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley HS) being the only Saints with two hits in the contest.

This regional is playing out similar to the 2008 NCAA Regional when the Saints were defeated in the opening game and then won three straight to reach the program's first regional final. On its way to the regional final, the Saints eliminated the Tommies before having to defeat the Warhawks twice in the final.

The Saints will be hoping this year's outcome turns out a little different than it did in 2008. Action begins at noon tomorrow.

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