Baseball eliminated after wild ninth

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – A pitchers' duel through eight innings, a dramatic comeback in the ninth and a bases loaded walkoff all led to 2021 season coming to a close in the Collegeville Regional. The Panthers fell 4-3 to top-seeded St. Thomas and were eliminated from the regional tournament.

Down to the last strike and trailing 3-0, the Panthers clawed their way back with the help of a pair of ninth inning errors from St. Thomas. With runners on first and second with two outs, sophomore Davis Mieliwocki's chopper back to the mound was overthrown at first to bring home Chapman's first run.

Senior Kyle Joye followed with a chopper to first but the throw was again wild and two runs came in to tie the game at 3-3.The entire rally happened with two outs as back-to-back singles from junior Cooper Foard and Connor Montgomery kept the Panthers' season alive.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Tommies brought in the winning run without ever leaving the infield. Freshman Brandon Menzel struck out two batters with a walk sandwiched in the middle. A knicked by pitch put two on with two out. The Panthers then returned the favor to St. Thomas with an error to extend the inning and load the bases. With two strikes, Jake Porter then sent a hard hit grounder toward left field. It was gloved but Porter raced down the line as the runner at third sprinted home to score the winning run.

Sophomore Wyatt Thompson threw 126 pitches for eight-plus innings to keep the Panthers in the game. He struck out 12 and took a no-hitter into the fifth. The Tommies managed seven hits in the late innings against Thompson and the game-winner against Menzel but the Chapman pitchers did not allow a extra base hit.

The Tommies strung together three singles in the fifth to break the scoreless tie and put up single runs in the seventh and eighth. After a hot start to the regional, Tommies' starter Kolby Gartner cooled off the Chapman bats, striking out nine in the complete game effort.

Chapman's best chance to get on the board came in the fifth when Mieliwocki walked and Joye followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Gartner got a strikeout and groundout to end the threat. Chapman managed just six hits with senior Henry Zeisler just missing a game-tying home run in the sixth – instead lacing a double off the fence in left field.

The Panthers ended their abbreviated season with a 15-6 record.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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