Wildness Hurts Spartans in 10-0 Setback to UCSD; Elimination Rubber Match at 4:00 pm Friday

Wildness Hurts Spartans in 10-0 Setback to UCSD; Elimination Rubber Match at 4:00 pm Friday

The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team suffered their first loss at the NCAA Division II Championship, a 10-0 defeat at the hands of Cal San Diego in Grand Prairie, Texas. The Spartans fell behind and the pitching staff, which is been outstanding throughout the post-season, walked 11 batters to aid the Tritons' outburst. STAC now stands at 44-16 overall, while UCSD staved off elimination for the third straight day to improve to 43-18.

Both of these team started the tournament on Sunday with STAC rallying for a wild 6-5 victory in 12 innings. With UCSD's win on Thursday, the teams will now play a rubber match at 4:00 pm Eastern on Friday, with the winner advancing to Saturday's Championship round and the loser being eliminated.

A combination of a prolific Tritons' offense and uncharacteristic wildness from the Spartan hurlers led to UCSD posting two runs in each of the 2nd through 5th innings, adding solo markers in the 6th and 7th. Anthony Shkrelja, generally a control pitcher, got the start and struggled from the outset to be tagged with the loss.

Joey Pena had a pair of hits to lead the Spartans, while Jack Larsen and Alex Eliopolous had three apiece for Cal San Diego, with starter Kyle Goodbrand turning in a strong outing with a complete-game shutout to earn the win.

As a result of West Chester's 1-0 defeat of Colorado Mesa, the following schedule scenario will take place for the rest of the tournament.

Scenario 1 - West Chester beats Colorado Mesa

WCU would remain undefeated and advance directly to Saturday while the others face an elimination game on Friday, and need to sweep a pair on Saturday with West Chester just needing one win.

Game 13 - Friday, 4:00 STAC vs UCSD (loser eliminated)

Game 14 - Saturday 4:00 West Chester vs Winner of Game 13

Game 15 - Saturday 8:00 West Chester vs Winner of Game 13 (if necessary)

 

2017 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship
hosted by Angelo State University
  Airhogs Stadium - Grand Prairie, Texas
May 27- June 3, 2017

= Regional Champions =

East - St. Thomas Aquinas (44-16) (1 Loss)

Atlantic - West Chester (PA) (43-11)

South Central - Colorado Mesa (50-12) 

West - Cal San Diego (43-18) (1 Loss)

South - Delta State (MS) (45-13)

Central - Lindenwood (MO) (40-20)

Southeast - North Georgia (46-12)

Midwest - Quincy (IL) (37-23)

Saturday, May 27

Game 1 - West Chester 9, North Georgia, 4

Game 2 - Lindenwood 4, Delta State, 0

Sunday, May 28

Game 3 - St. Thomas Aquinas 6, UC San Diego 5 (12 innings)

Game 4 - Colorado Mesa 10, Quincy 3

Monday, May 29

Game 5 - Delta State 4, North Georgia 0  (N. Georgia eliminated)

Game 6 - West Chester 5, Lindenwood 2

Tuesday, May 30

Game 7 - UC San Diego 10, Quincy 8 (Quincy eliminated)

Game 8St. Thomas Aquinas 3, Colorado Mesa 2 (10 innings)

Wednesday, May 31 (crossover)

Game 9 - UC San Diego 11, Lindenwood 6 (Lindenwood eliminated)

Game 10 - Colorado Mesa 6, Delta State 2 (Delta State eliminated)

Thursday, June 1

Game 11 - UC San Diego (1L) 10, St. Thomas Aquinas (1L) 0

Game 12 - West Chester 1, Colorado Mesa 0 (Colorado Mesa eliminated)

Friday, June 2

Game 13 - UC San Diego vs. St. Thomas Aquinas - 4:00pm (Loser eliminated)