WHITEWATER, Wis. — Junior Dylan Thomas earned most outstanding player honors by smashing two home runs and driving in five RBIs to lead St. Thomas into the NCAA Division III World Series with a 10-6 win over Wisconsin-Whitewater Saturday on the Warhawks’ home field.
The Tommies, ranked fourth nationally, gave up a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning, but Thomas’ two-run shot in the sixth put his team up for good at 6-5 and in a position to compete for a second national championship in four seasons starting Friday in Appleton, Wis.
St. Thomas won national championships in 2001 and 2009.
Thomas’ two homers gave him three for the tournament, earning him a spot on the all-tournament team along with senior third baseman Charles Bruchu, senior pitcher Bryce Gapinski and sophomore catcher J.D. Dorgan.
“It’s not just the hitting that kept us in it,” Thomas said. “It was the defense that kept us in it. We made the plays that we needed to make, and the bats came when they needed to.”
The Tommies swept through the regionals undefeated, beating Whitewater twice in the process.
“Whitewater is a very good team,” said St. Thomas coach Chris Olean.
Freshman Jack Hogan and sophomores Dorgan and Tim Kuzniar each drove in runs and another scored on an error to give the Tommies a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.
A difficult fifth inning for St. Thomas allowed the Warhawks to take their first lead of the game, when an RBI single from sophomore center fielder Dylan Friend, a two-run homer from sophomore outfielder Jared Fon and an RBI double tied the game. Olean removed Gapinski, but a Hogan error in center field allowed junior right fielder Andrew Bauer to drive in the go-ahead run.
“I just started running out of gas,” Gapinski said.
Olean expected that Gapinski would get tired, and saved sophomore Steve Maher in case that happened.
“(Gapinski) should have been tired, he was on two days rest, but we brought him back because we needed him around for a while,” Olean said. “He did a great job.”
St. Thomas quickly retook the lead with two outs in the sixth after the two-run homer from Thomas made the score 6-5, forcing Whitewater to bring in junior pitcher Jack Larsen.
Thomas said that when he hit the first home run, it was “like the team could breathe again.”
“That was huge for us,” Thomas said, “especially getting on top with only four innings left.”
Thomas gave St. Thomas some insurance in seventh inning when he hit another home run with two guys on base to make the score 10-5.
The Warhawks (33-17) gave the Tommies one final scare in the eighth inning after Maher came in to close out the game. Senior catcher Brandon Egnarski hit an RBI double to center field to make the score 10-6. With two outs, Maher pitched out of a bases-loaded jam.
Maher finished the game with a perfect ninth inning.
Thomas’ performance in the regional tournament puts the exclamation point on an very productive season. Thomas won the award for MIAC pitcher of the year, and added his two-homer performance in the regional championship game.
“I just got hot when I needed to,” Thomas said. “I did what I needed to do to help the team win.”
Nick McAndrews can be reached at mcan1933@stthomas.edu.