Journal Times staff

On a day when Carthage College baseball coach Augie Schmidt IV thought his team played its best game of the tournament, the Red Men were eliminated in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.

Carthage lost 3-1 to St. Thomas (Minn.) Monday in a semifinal game at the Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute. It was Carthage's second loss of the double-elimination tournament.

Ranked fourth in the American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball poll and seventh in the "D3baseball.com" poll, Carthage (38-9) had seven hits against St. Thomas starting pitcher John Licht, but Licht limited the damage to pitch a complete game for the Tommies (39-13).

"It's weird how baseball works, but I thought we played our best game today," Schmidt said. "With the wind, it was a tough day to hit. John Licht pitched very well against us.

"It's always hard when it ends, but this season felt really good all the way through, because it was so unexpected."

St. Thomas got on the scoreboard first in the top of the fourth. Matt Olson led off the inning with a bunt single and advanced to second on a throwing error charged to Red Men catcher Mike Hughes. Olson moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brian Schmitz. Designated hitter Drew Cremisino gave St. Thomas the lead with an RBI single through the box against Carthage starter Andy Pucher.

Olson jump-started the Tommies' sixth inning with a one-out triple to left field. The next batter, Schmitz, brought home Olson with a single to center for a 2-0 lead.

The Red Men cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth. Former Park High School standout John Lequia singled to right. One out later, designated hitter Drew Roberts tripled to the left-field gap to score Lequia from first base on a close play at the plate.

St. Thomas added an insurance run in the seventh on center fielder Matt McQuillian's RBI single to right that scored Dan Leslie.

Carthage threatened in the bottom of the ninth after Roberts drew a two-out walk, but pinch hitter Mark Sobol flied out to left to end the game.

Licht walked two and struck out nine in nine innings.

"We sort of swung up instead of down, like we probably should have with the wind," Hughes said.

Lequia was 3-for-4 and Roberts was 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Red Men. Former Shoreland Lutheran standout and Red Men second baseman Tyler Eickmeyer had his 24-game hitting streak stopped.

Pucher, a freshman, went 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs, although only one was earned. He walked four and didn't strike out a batter.

Schmidt said he told Pucher to relax and don't worry about the outcome.

"I told (Pucher) to have fun and enjoy the moment," Schmidt said. "He's just starting down this road. For him to be on this stage, in this situation, I told him that I didn't care what happens."

Considering the amount of talent and players lost after last season, Schmidt didn't know what to expect and was surprised Carthage made it so deep into the postseason.

"Sometimes when you expect things, you take things for granted," Schmidt said. "No way did I ever expect to be here. We had such a turnover in players that to get to the final four was totally unexpected."