St. Thomas baseball fell 6-5 to Omaha in their first game at Koch Diamond Friday afternoon.
After dodging late snow and April showers, the Tommies (9-12, 4-2 Summit) finally took to Koch Diamond to play the Mavericks (7-19, 5-5 Summit) on Friday, April 5, two weeks after the originally planned date. The Tommies played their first game since a split series against South Dakota State in neutral site Omaha before the third game was postponed.
Fans filled the seats behind home plate, and after the first crack of a bat, Flynn residents peeked out of their open windows to catch some of the game.
It only took until the second inning for the baseball classic, “What are you looking at ump?” to come from the stands when Junior pitcher Jacob Mrosko walked two straight players. After hitting a third, Maverick senior center fielder Matt Goetzmann was treated to loaded bases, already up 1-0. Goetzmann hit a double and cleared the bases, putting Omaha up 4-0.
St. Thomas flipped it on them in the third inning, and put up three runs while holding Omaha scoreless. Mrosko struck two out swinging to start the third, showing why he led the Summit League in opponent batting average with .167 and fourth in ERA.
The Tommies took the lead in the fourth, 5-4, but didn’t score for the rest of the game and touched the third bag only once. The explosive offense that had been leading the Summit League in batting average and on-base percentage was shutout in the remaining five innings.
After two pitching changes, junior pitcher Evan Esch took the mound to close the game. While on the field, he reached the 100 career strikeout milestone but had the winning runs scored on him.
St. Thomas was picked to finish last in the conference preseason poll, yet currently sits in first place, albeit only playing six conference games, while other teams have played as many as 10.
The second game of the series will be at noon, on Saturday, April 6 at Koch Diamond in St. Paul.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.