St. Thomas hitters struck out 18 times in 14 innings as the Tommie baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader against fifth ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater Thursday at U.S. Bank Stadium 5-2 and 10-1.
“It’s early in the year, and we are certainly not hitting the panic button, but there are some things that definitely need to improve,” St. Thomas coach Chris Olean said. “We had too many non-competitive at-bats where we looked just flat-out beat.”
The first game of the doubleheader was the second official game of the season for the Tommies while it was the Warhawks season opener.
Despite their offensive struggles, the Tommies scored in the bottom of the first inning of game one when Sam Cobbs hit a single through the hole between the shortstop and the third baseman plating Jake Smith from third after Smith tripled to right-center field gap.
The St. Thomas lead was short lived however as the Warhawks answered in the next half inning to tie the game on an error by Tommie shortstop Ben Carpenter.
The Warhawks pulled in front in the top of the third inning. Whitewater third baseman Cal Aldridge doubled to deep right-center field to drive in centerfielder Daytona Bryden and first baseman Blake Fleischman. Bryden was hit by a pitch and Fleischman singled earlier in the inning.
Whitewater scored another run in the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles by Brett Krause and Will Helbing to take a 4-1 lead against Caleb Fernholz.
Fernholz started on the mound for St. Thomas, giving up five runs in his four innings while striking out three.
Helbing also drove in the fifth Warhawk run on a single in the top of the sixth inning, extending the lead to 5-1.
Tommie reliever Ben Kray escaped a jam to end the sixth inning and keep the game within reach, getting Bryden to hit into a double play with runners on first and second.
Kray pitched a scoreless final inning and two thirds while Chad Czaplewski threw one and a third innings of relief, giving up the run in the fifth.
St. Thomas answered in the bottom of the inning when Hunter Hart doubled deep down the left field line, scoring Smith from first base and cutting the lead to 5-2.
The Tommies put together a final rally in the seventh inning and got the potential game-winning run to the plate, loading the bases on walks by Chad Clute, Dan Bollingberg and Carpenter before Smith flew out to right field to end the game.
“(The players) showed some guts there,” Olean said. “They showed a little bit of compete, which we lacked a lot of the day.”
Game two started with a bang as Smith belted a homerun to right field in the contest’s first at-bat. Unfortunately for the Tommies, it was their final run of the day.
Whitewater’s starting pitcher Westin Wuethrich did not give up another hit after Smith’s home run and recorded nine strikeouts in his five innings.
The Warhawks took the lead in the third when Fleischman doubled to deep center field, scoring shortstop Jordan Kuczynski and Bryden. Fleischman scored on a single up the middle with the infield in by second baseman Steve Chamberlain.
Whitewater then added two runs in both the fourth and fifth inning to seemingly put the game out of reach.
Ryan Zimmerman took the loss for the Tommies on the hill, giving up five runs, four of which were earned, with seven strikeouts in four innings.
Grant Gunderson and Ian Schwickert each threw an inning in relief.
“Whitewater is certainly a team, if we think are going to be good, that we are going to have to play with,” Olean said. “It definitely gives us a new bar to shoot for.”
Next up for the Tommies is Wartburg, who they will play Saturday night at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“Wartburg is a good team and we’ll have to play well,” Olean said. “I think there are a lot of guys who are upset about how we played tonight and will hopefully take it with them into that game and play with a little more sense of urgency.”
Taylor Smith can be reached at smit9660@stthomas.edu.