March 31: St. Thomas 7, Edgewood 4

Tommies run record to 12-1 with second win over Eagles

Six St. Thomas players banged out two or more hits each and Matt Schuld picked up his third win of the season as the Tommies defeated Edgewood College 7-4 on Wednesday.

The victory bumped No. 1-rated St. Thomas’ record to 12-1 and its winning streak over NCAA opponents stands at 10. The Tommies have won all seven college games on their Florida spring break trip.

It was the second time in the trip that St. Thomas defeated Edgewood (7-5), which is in Madison, Wis. The first win was 8-1 on Monday. The Eagles defeated UST archrival St. Olaf 17-5 on Tuesday and earlier this month won three of four games over Concordia-Moorhead.

Not counting the 10-7 exhibition loss to a Minnesota Twins’ rookie team on Tuesday, St. Thomas trailed a spring break opponent for the first time when Edgewood scored an unearned run in the second inning.

The Tommies went ahead for good in the fourth with three runs. Tayler Rahm started the inning with a walk, and Tom Wippler, Ray Larson and John Means followed with singles. The other two runs came on groundouts by Chuck Bruchi and John Bauer.

St. Thomas extended its lead to 6-2 in the fifth, scoring all three runs with two outs. Wippler and Means had singles, Bruchi an RBI double and Brady Field knocked in two runs with a single down the right-field line. The Tommies’ final run came in the eighth when Wippler drove in Matt Olson with his third hit of the day.

Thirteen of St. Thomas’ hits were singles, and Bruchi having the lone extra base hit. The Tommies committed a season-high four errors.

Schuld, a 12-1 All-American last year when St. Thomas won the national title, scattered five hits over eight innings and gave up two earned runs. He had six strikeouts. Brandon Stone pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.

“Matt pitched a strong game,” Coach Chris Olean said of his senior ace. “He didn’t look as sharp as he has this year, but that might have been a matter of rust more than anything else.” Schuld had not pitched since a 2-1, complete-game win in 10 innings over Carthage on March 20.

St. Thomas concludes its Florida trip Thursday with a single game against SUNY-Purchase and opens defense of its MIAC title on Saturday with a 1 p.m. home doubleheader against Carleton.

 

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