St. Thomas 6, Worcester State 2
St. Thomas 5, Worcester State 1
Game 1 --- Box Score
Game 2 --- Box Score
Auburndale, FL --- Behind two outstanding pitching performances
of St. Thomas junior Matt Olson (Ramsey, MN) and freshman Bryce
Gapinski (Foley, MN) the Tommies swept Worcester State this
afternoon 6-2 and 5-1 to close out their Florida trip. With the win
the Lancers drop to 5-7 overall (5-5 in Florida) while St. Thomas
improves to 6-4.
Olson hurled six innings in game one as he gave up two runs (none
earned) with six hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Junior
Joey Lucier (Brockton, MA) suffered his second
loss of the year as he yielded six runs (one earned) on seven hits
with six punch outs in six innings of work.
The Tommies went up 1-0 in the top of the first on an RBI single by
senior Brian Schmitz (Olsen, MN-DH). St Thomas threatened to score
more with runners at first and second, but the next batter flew
into a triple play to end the inning.
Lucier then retired nine of the next ten batters from the second
through the fourth frames before he ran into trouble in the fifth.
In that inning the Lancers committed four errors all of which led
to a four run inning highlighted by an RBI single by Schmitz and a
run producing double by junior Tom Whippler (Sauk Rapids,
MN-1B).
St. Thomas notched one more run in the sixth on a plated run by
senior Louie Salmen (St. Paul, MN-2B) to go up 6-0.
Worcester State then staged a two-run bottom frame on a sacrifice
fly by freshman Jake Sanderski (Millbury, MA-LF)
and an RBI single by sophomore pinch hitter Shane
Coakley (Spencer, MA), but were denied in a perfect
seventh by sophomore Chris Edwards (Edina, MN).
In the second contest Gapinksi went the distance throwing just 78
pitches as he scattered five hits while giving up just one run.
Gapinksi also walked two and struck out one.
Junior Mike Borowiec (Spencer, MA) was tagged for
the loss in his second start of the season. Borowiec tossed five
innings as he yielded four runs (two earned) on six hits. Borowiec
tallied three strikeouts while walking only one.
St. Thomas struck first scoring a run in the bottom of the second
on an error in the infield.
Worcester State responded in the top of the third and knotted the
score 1-1 when sophomore Ben Mullin (Burlington,
MA-C) scored from third on a fielders choice play.
The Tommies scored three times in the bottom of the frame
highlighted by a go-ahead RBI triple by Olson and again in the
sixth on a sacrifice fly by sophomore John Bauer (Eastview, MN) to
take control of the game.
Gapinski was effective in shutting the Lancers down over the last
as he retired 11 of the last 12 – which included turning a
pair of double plays – to close out the contest.
WSC will continue their season back up north with two 3:30 contests
in the next week. On Wednesday sophomore Bobby
Devito (Webster, MA) takes the hill against Albertus
Magnus while senior Craig McBride (Attleboro, MA)
will try to even up his record against WPI.