Box Score

MINNETONKA, Minn. – No. 8 St. Thomas recorded a five-run fifth inning in a 7-3 win over Saint John's in the first game of the four-team, double-elimination MIAC Tournament on Friday, May 9, at Veterans Field in Minnetonka.

The Johnnies (21-9, 13-7 MIAC) will play the loser of tonight's nightcap between Bethel at Saint Mary's in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10.

Junior outfielder Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) started the game with a single off of his high-school teammate, UST's Colin Wendinger, and scored on a wild pitch to give SJU an early 1-0 lead.

The Tommies (31-7, 18-2 MIAC) tied it, however, with an unearned run thanks to two singles and two catcher's interference calls on senior Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) in the bottom half of the inning.

Senior outfielder Joe Lampe (Osceola, Iowa/Clarke) doubled to start the fourth and advanced to third on a groundout from junior Tom Druk (Plymouth, Minn./Orono), but was thrown out at the plate on another groundout.

UST broke the game open with five runs on two homers in the fifth inning. Tyler Peterson started the bottom half with a solo shot, his eighth of the season, and Cory Quinlan added a grand slam from the Tommies' eighth spot in the lineup. Quinlan entered the game batting .255 with six RBI on the year.

The Tommies added a single run in the sixth. Freshman Derek Graves (Mora, Minn.) relieved starter Collin Felhaber (North St. Paul, Minn.) to start the inning, but walked the first three batters he faced and gave up an RBI single. Junior Tyler Delwiche (Andover, Minn./Totino-Grace) slammed the door shut, however, with three strikeouts to end the inning.

A two-run homer off the bat of Lampe, his fourth of the season, cut SJU's deficit to 7-3 in the top of the eighth.

Felhaber was saddled with the loss, allowing six runs (five earned) on nine hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out two. Delwiche and sophomore Brad Luebbert (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) combined for three innings of scoreless, one-hit relief.

Wendinger went the distance for UST, allowing the three runs on five hits. He struck out three and walked one.

Lampe led the SJU cause with a 2-for-4 performance, for six total bases, at the plate. Senior outfielder Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) went 1-for-4 with a run scored and now has 118 career hits, one shy of tying Kyle Henkemeyer (2008-10) for 10th in school history.

The Johnnies batted 1-for-11 with runners on base, 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-9 with two outs on the day.