St. Thomas baseball fell flat in an 8-0 defeat against the University of Minnesota Wednesday night in the last game of a two-game series.
The Tommies (14-18, 9-5 Summit) and Golden Gophers’ (18-18, 4-8 Big Ten) first-game suspense did not translate into a second game where St. Thomas was left helpless after the Gophers scored in each of the first six innings of play.
“We wanted to show up and certainly compete better than we did today,” coach Chris Olean said after the game.
The Golden Gophers struck early and effectively. In the first inning of play, junior designated hitter Ike Mezzenga launched a two-run home run just over the reach of junior center fielder Joe Vos.
Minnesota doubled their lead when junior second baseman Brady Counsell slapped a single to right field with the bases loaded. Two batters later, a single to left field extended the Gophers lead to 5-0 at the end of the second inning.
The Tommies entered the game with a depleted bullpen after the extra-innings loss the previous night and turned to ball players that haven’t pitched many innings
“We knew they were going to score some runs, they are a Big Ten team, and we were kind of on the back end of the bullpen so a lot was just to get a feel for some guys, see if they can help us in-conference and give them a look,” Olean said.
Tommies pitching combined for 10 hits allowed, seven earned runs, and eight walks issued while punching out nine.
Junior pitcher Evan Jackson and first-year Marlin Sejnoha III pitched the last four frames of the game without allowing a run and racking up five strikeouts.
St. Thomas also struggled at the plate. All seven of St. Thomas’ hits were singles and no runner advanced past second base throughout the game.
After the Tommies put runners on base in the sixth and seventh innings, the efforts were met with zeros on the scoreboard.
“Offensively, we never strung anything together. We got seven hits, but really never threatened with multiple hits in an inning or put a lot of pressure on,” Olean said.
A bright spot offensively was first-year Sean Marlow tallying his first collegiate hit, while also logging his first career start. Marlow was hitless in his previous five plate appearances until his last at-bat tonight.
St. Thomas now looks forward to a conference matchup against the University of Northern Colorado. The series starts at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 26 at Koch Diamond.
“You can’t turn competing on and off,” Olean said. “We were just a little bit soft … I’m not too worried about it, these guys know where we are.”
Juan Del Valle can be reached at delv9625@stthomas.edu.