DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – For the ninth straight year, the St. Scholastica baseball team will take part in a NCAA Division III Regional Tournament and for the fourth straight time it will be in Whitewater, Wis. when the Saints open against the University of St. Thomas on Wednesday.
Game ScheduleWednesday vs. St. Thomas – Noon
Game Day MediaAbout the TommiesRecord: 33-5, 19-1 MIAC
St. Thomas enters the regional tournament as the No. 1 seed and ranked second nationally by D3baseball.com.
The Tommies won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular season and tournament championships.
St. Thomas finished third at the World Series a season ago.
The Tommies enter the regional hot, winners in 24 of their last 25 games. During their six-game winning streak, the margin of victory has been four runs or more.
St. Thomas has split with the Saints, UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point this season.
Dylan Thomas tied for the MIAC lead with seven victories and 59 strikeouts.
The Tommies had the top three home run hitters in the conference with J.D. Dorgan and Ryan Gerber each hitting seven, while Tim Kuzniar hit six. Kuzniar tied for the conference lead with 44 RBIs.
Ben Podobinski had a MIAC-high 25 stolen bases.
The Tommies have the third-best fielding percentage in the country (.975).
Series History: (CSS is 15-23 vs. St. Thomas)
The Saints split with the Tommies in the Metrodome at the beginning of the season, winning game one 3-2, but dropping game two 6-3.
The teams met last year at the NCAA Regional Tournament in the winners' bracket semifinals with Tommies handing the Saints one of their worst losses in program history a 22-2 defeat.
About the PointersRecord: 35-9, 19-5 WIAC
UW-Stevens Point will be the No. 2 seed in the Whitewater Regional.
The Pointers received the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's (WIAC) automatic bid by winning the WIAC Tournament title on Sunday.
UWSP finished second in the conference during the regular season and are currently ranked 16th by D3baseball.com.
After dropping three out of four games to UW-Whitewater in mid-April, the Pointers have won 22 of their last 25 games.
Sean Gerber led the WIAC with 12 home runs and 60 RBIs, while Ryan Schilter led the league with 63 runs scored and 21 stolen bases.
Gerber is second in the nation with 115 total bases.
The Pointers are third nationally with 33 home runs.
JP Feyereisen led the conference with a 2.24 earned run average and a .213 opposing batting average.
Series History: (CSS is 5-10 vs. UW-Stevens Point)
The Saints were swept by UW-Stevens Point earlier this season in an impromptu doubleheader at Stevens Point. The Pointers took game one 10-4 and game two 8-4.
CSS and UWSP last played in a regional in 2011 with the Saints coming out on top 3-2.
About the WarhawksRecord: 34-7, 21-2 WIAC
The host, UW-Whitewater, will be the No. 3 seed in the Whitewater Regional and ranked fifth nationally.
The Warhawks captured the WIAC regular season championship, but went 1-2 in the WIAC Tournament over the weekend, losing both games to UW-Stevens Point.
Whitewater went 7-2 vs. teams in the this regional this season with a 3-1 record vs. UW-Stevens Point, 2-0 vs. St. Scholastica, 1-0 vs. Benedictine and 1-1 vs. St. Thomas.
Marty Herum led the conference with a .430 batting average and Mikole Pierce was right behind him at .417.
Herum also led the conference with 22 doubles.
Dylan Friend led the team with eight home runs and also led the WIAC with 26 walks.
Matt Roberts led the conference with 70 strikeouts, while Tom Kerndt was second in the league with a .236 opposing batting average.
The Warhawks are third in the country in team batting average, slugging percentage and home runs per game.
Series History: (CSS is 2-10 vs. UW-Whitewater)
The Saints were swept by the Warhawks two weeks ago in Whitewater by scores of 15-5 and 5-3.
The Warhawks eliminated the Saints from the regional tournament last season with a 6-5 victory to advance to the regional final.
About the SpartansRecord: 27-12, 5-3 UAA
Case Western Reserve (Ohio) will be making its second NCAA Regional Tournament appearance and will be the No. 4 seed.
The Spartans were co-champions of the University Athletic Association (UAA), a conference that does not have an automatic qualifier. With that they received a pool B bid into the tournament.
Case Western finished the season with a 9-3 record and swept defending NCAA Division III champion Marietta last weekend.
The Spartans are led by UAA Player of the Year in pitcher Jarrett Gish. Gish is 7-0 with a 1.95 ERA.
Paul Pakan led the team with 38 RBIs and tied for a team-high with four home runs.
Matt Keen led the team at the plate with a .371 batting average.
Series History: (CSS is 0-0 vs. Case Western)
The two programs have never met.
About the EaglesRecord: 32-10, 17-5 NAC
Benedictine University (Ill.) will be the No. 5 seed in the regional and is making its first NCAA Regional Tournament since 2003 and the eighth overall.
The Eagles received an at-large bid into the tournament after finishing second in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) during the regular season.
Benedictine has won 18 of its last 22 contests. The Eagles have defeated UW-Stevens Point this season in Florida over Spring Break, but also fell the next day to UW-Whitewater.
Travis Hendricks led the conference with .426 batting average, while Nick Karakosta had a league-high 50 RBIs. John Cervantes was second in the NAC with 49 RBIs.
Chris Jordan led the Eagles on the mound with a conference-best 1.33 ERA.
Pat Cashman was second in the conference with six wins.
The Eagles are second in the nation in team batting average and third overall in scoring.
Series History: (CSS is 0-0 vs. Benedictine)
The two programs have never met.
