The St. Thomas baseball team split a doubleheader with a 6-0 win and a 4-1 loss Saturday against North Dakota State University at Koch Diamond. The Tommies played as the away team due to the games being moved to St. Paul because of poor field conditions.
The Tommie’s (5-18 overall, 2-6 Summit League) had strong pitching performances from senior Graham Laubscher and first-year Evan Esch that kept the Bison (18-10, 6-2) in check for most of the afternoon.
“That’s (the first game) what we’ve been looking for all year,” coach Chris Olean said. “Unfortunately, second game we got away from it again.”
GAME ONE
Senior third baseman Kyle Halverson put the Tommies on the board early, hitting a two-run homer in the top of the first.
Laubscher capitalized on an early lead, striking out the side in order. He continued his dominance, going 5.2 perfect innings with 12 strikeouts before giving up a hit.
“We came out guns blazing in the first. That Kyle (Halverson) home run was huge,” Laubscher said. “Scoring first is always a momentum builder.”
Luabscher finished with 8.1 innings, no runs, two hits and a career high 15 strikeouts to get his first Division I win.
“If he’s going to do that we have to get a few runs in to get a W for him,” Halverson said. “It helps you settle in a bit.”
The Tommies added one in the sixth when senior center fielder Avery Lehman drove first-year left fielder Brigs Richartz in on a sacrifice fly making it 3-0. First-year player Joe Vos hit a pinch-hit single in the eighth, driving in Halverson to make the game 4-0.
The Tommies finished their scoring in the top of the ninth after Halverson’s second two-run homer of the day. Junior pitcher T.J. Constertina relieved Laubscher in the ninth, finishing the shutout.
GAME TWO
First-year pitcher Walker Retz started for the Tommies, throwing two shutout innings before first-year Tucker Huhn took over pitching in the third.
Huhn only pitched for one out, giving up a run and was relieved by Esch who completed the inning.
From there, Esch threw 5.1 innings of relief, giving up three runs, five hits and striking out five. Sophomore Duke Coborn pitched the last out of the ninth for the Tommies.
The Tommies scored their only run when first-year left fielder Brigs Richartz doubled home sophomore shortstop Matthew Enck.
“I think our pitchers did a pretty decent job,” Olean said. “They have multiple guys with five plus homers, one guy with ten.”
The pitching staff did not give up a home run to North Dakota State in either game. NDSU leads the Summit League in home runs with 33.
Olean said he feels like his team still needs to improve on their hitting.
“You’ve got to stay in counts and locate pitches,” Olean said. “If we can do that, we’ll be okay.”
St. Thomas will return to Koch Diamond at 1 p.m. Sunday for the final game in the three-game weekend series against North Dakota State. They will bat as the away team.
Sam Larson can be reached lars4378@stthomas.edu.