Ann Arbor, Mich. – Aquinas made its second appearance in the WHAC Tournament yesterday (May 1) in as many years. AQ started the day with a tough matchup with No. 3-seed Indiana Tech. The Saints claimed an early edge, but a massive five-run third inning from IIT proved to be too tall of a mountain to climb for AQ.
With their tournament life on the line, AQ responded to the call against Siena Heights. The Saints survived a late comeback attempt from SHU to advance to the consolation semifinals of the Concordia pod.
If AQ wins against the loser of the Concordia and Indiana Tech game, they will advance to the championship game of the CUAA pod for the chance of making it to the championship series next week (May 6-7).
Game 1: Indiana Tech 7, Aquinas 5
Chase Ingersoll successfully executed a squeeze play in the top of the first to bring
Ramsey Bousseau home. AQ's prompt lead increased to three in the third inning after hits from Bousseau,
Nicolas Verdugo, and
Nathan Wilcox scored a run and put runners on the corners. Wilcox got caught in a rundown but stalled long enough for Verdugo to come home and score the third run.
Disaster struck AQ in the bottom of the third. The Warriors grounded out twice to start the inning and then should have grounded out a third time to go one-two-three. Unfortunately, an untimely error allowed the inning to continue and IIT capitalized. They strung together five hits with two outs to bring home five unearned runs and take the lead.
A solo home run for Tech in the fourth and another error from Aquinas in the fifth allowed the higher-seeded team to take a 7-3 advantage.
The Saints found a timely response in the top of the sixth after an error from IIT allowed the inning to continue.
Ryan Gillings and Bousseau hit back-to-back doubles into left field to bring two runs home and cut the lead to just two.
Both teams put plenty of runners on base throughout the final three frames, but neither side managed to move the scoreline. The contest ended after a scoreless ninth inning for AQ to end the game in favor of the Warriors.
Game 2: Aquinas 11, Siena Heights 9
Conor Gausselin started on the bump and retired the side to set the tone for the rest of the game. History then repeated itself as Ingersoll batted in the first run of the game with a double to left center. Then, identical to the first game, batted in two runs off of three hits to go up by three.
AQ looked to put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fourth with a massive offensive outing.
Luke LaCross smashed a ball over the fence to jumpstart the inning. A SHU error, a sacrifice bunt, and a Bousseau single added on another run.
Siena Heights really struggled to find control on the mound following a pitching change. There was a balk, a walk, a hit by pitch, and another walk to add on another run and load the bases. Yet another walk credited Binkowski with an RBI and a passed ball on the at-bat brought the lead to eight.
SHU finally brought the bats to life in the top of the fifth, preventing AQ from running away with the game. Siena scored four runs on five hits to cut the lead in half. Aquinas answered with a run in the bottom of the frame, but SHU answered right back with a walk and two singles in quick succession.
The back-and-forth ensued when
Grant Martin doubled, advanced to third on a groundout, and made it home on a wild pitch for a 10-5 game. Once more, SHU notched a run on the scoreboard after a double, and a single put two runners on the corners. Aquinas forced a double play, but Siena Heights scored the runner on third.
The game finally settled down a bit for a couple of innings before Verdugo's double and a
Drew Mitchell single put AQ up to 11 runs. Aquinas would need that five-run lead as a pair of walks and an error loaded up the bases for SHU with no outs. A hit by a pitch on the next at-bat turned up the pressure with the tying run at the dish.
However,
Mason Hill forced a fielder's choice and a sacrifice fly before striking out the final batter to get out of the jam and continue AQ's tournament life.
By the Numbers
The bats were working all day for the Saints as they batted .313 over both games with 21 hits. Bousseau led the way with four hits including a pair of doubles and RBIs.
All 10 Saints that batted collected at least one hit with eight players hitting at least two.
AQ continued to be aggressive on the base paths, adding nine more stolen bases to the season total. The nine stolen bags moved AQ's total to 144, the most stolen bases by an Aquinas team in 40 years.
Up Next
Aquinas' semifinal opponent will be determined by the Concordia and Indiana Tech game at 1:00 p.m. The Saints will take on the loser of that game for a chance to compete in the championship game.
