St. Thomas is heading to the Division III College World Series, after winning two elimination games over Pacific on Monday and three in 24 hours in Collegeville, Minn.
Minnesota Scene: St. Thomas wins twice to reach College World Series
The Tommies rallied for five runs in the bottom of the ninth to reach their seventh College World Series since 1999.
June 1, 2021 at 3:36AM
The Tommies, needing to win twice Monday to advance to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, beat Pacific 7-4 in the first game after falling behind 4-0. They won 13-9 in Game 2, rallying for a five-run ninth after Pacific had gone ahead with five runs in the seventh.
Matthew Enck (Edina) went 6-for-7 in the doubleheader, and Charlie Bartholomew (Mahtomedi) went 4-for-7 with four RBI.
St. Thomas is in its final season of Division III baseball and will be heading to the College World Series for the seventh time since 1999. The Tommies are 20-3 over their last 23 games,
They'll face Adrian at 1:15 p.m. on Friday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
• Also advancing to the eight-team CWS was Johns Hopkins, which eliminated Northwestern (St. Paul) with a 3-2 victory Monday in the St. Paul regional.
Two tennis titles for Carleton
The Carleton men's tennis program earned its first and second individual national championships Sunday, as senior Leo Vithoontien won the NCAA Division III singles championship, then teamed with Xander Suczek to claim the doubles title.
Vithoontien, the national runner-up in 2019, defeated Tufts' Boris Sorkin 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the finale. Six hours later, he and Zuczek won 6-3, 6-2 over Brandeis' Jeffrey Chen and Adam Tzeng in straight sets (6-3, 6-2). It was the 12th time in NCAA Division III men's tennis history that a player won the national championship in both singles and doubles.
The doubles national championship was nearly an All-MIAC finale, as the Gustavus All-America duo of Nick Aney and Alex Budde came up just short of a title match appearance, falling in the semifinals by a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (2).
Saints' Jax honored
Saints righthander Griffin Jax, who struck out 10 in six scoreless inning on Friday night against Iowa, was chosen the Triple-A East pitcher of the week.
Jax's victory in the Saints' first shutout of the season was part of a 6-0 week for St. Paul.
The 26-year-old Jax, a former third-round draft choice of the Twins out of the Air Force Academy, is 3-1 with a 3.33 ERA in five starts.
Jax was also named the Twins minor league pitcher of the week.
Etc.
• After more than 600 days without playing a game, the Minnesota Wind Chill of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) will return to the field this summer. The 2021 AUDL season is set to kick off this weekend, as the Wind Chill travel to Madison to take on the Radicals on Friday night in a Central Division matchup.
Two offensive linemen from Lakeville, Bryce Benhart and Riley Mahlman, are standouts for Big Ten rivals of Minnesota.
