Ann Arbor, Mich. – After falling to Indiana Tech in the first game of the WHAC Tournament, the battling Saints continued to fight their way through the consolation bracket today (May 2), picking up a massive upset victory over Concordia to advance to the CUAA Pod Championship game tomorrow.

A JD Gillies single scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to score what would become the game-winning runs. AQ won 5-4 and outhit the Cardinals 9-4 to preemptively end Concordia's season.

Mason Hill entered the game in the fifth inning and proceeded to throw five of the most dominant innings in recent memory for an Aquinas pitcher. He struck out 11 batters through five innings, including two punchouts of the 2024 WHAC Player of the Year.

Aquinas 5, Concordia 4

Bousseau hit a leadoff single to start the bottom of the first before Mr. Home Run, Grant Martin, sent his 13th off the season over the wall with an oppo-bomb. Aquinas was able to tack on another run in the home half of the second inning. Luke LaCross singled and was able to reach third after a throwing error and a groundout. Ryan Gillings hit a fly ball deep enough into center field to allow LaCross to tag up and score.

After three scoreless innings, Concordia finally came to life in the top of the fourth. A walk and a single had two runners on base before an unfortunate error allowed two runs to score. Jack Crittendon overthrew the sacrifice bunt to bring the runners home. A single, a pair of stolen bases, and another single put CUAA ahead 4-3.

Following the fourth inning, the Saints brought in their big bullpen arm in Hill in an attempt to keep themselves in the game. Hill made a massive statement in the fifth, striking out the side including Drew Fleming, the WHAC Player of the Year. Nothing changed for the Cardinals over the subsequent two innings as Hill stuck out two in each inning for seven punchouts over three innings.

The Saints finally got the offensive break that they needed in the AQ half of the seventh. Nicolas Verdugo singled and stole second before Chase Ingersoll singled as well to put runners on the corners. Ingersoll then swiped second to put two runners in scoring position. That stolen base was crucial as Gillies delivered a clutch single down the left-field line to score Verdugo and Ingersoll. The two-run single brought AQ back in the driver's seat with two innings to go.

Hill showed no signs of slowing down as he mowed down the side again in the eighth with another two Ks, including another punch out on Fleming. It was the same story in the ninth. Hill struck out the first two batters and forced a groundout to end the game 5-4 in favor of Aquinas.

By the Numbers

Hill's 11 strikeouts were a career-high for the fifth-year graduate student. The best performance of Hill's career could not have come at a better time for the Saints. He crushed the explosive Concordia offense in one of the most dominant pitching performances in recent AQ baseball history with an outrageous 19.8 strikeouts per nine innings while allowing zero hits. 

Six different Saints accounted for AQ's nine hits with Verdugo, Gillies, and LaCross all posting multiple-hit performances.

Up Next

AQ's run continues tomorrow (May 3) with a rematch against Indiana Tech. The Saints will showdown with the Warriors at 10:00 a.m. over at Siena Heights. Aquinas will need to take down IIT twice to be crowned the CUAA Pod Champions as the Warriors have yet to lose. If AQ can pull off the sweep, it will advance to the championship series next Monday (May 6) against the winner of the UNOH pod.