Baseball Drops Two to St. Thomas

April 6, 2024

IRVING, Texas - The University of Dallas baseball team lost both games of  their conference double header against the University of St. Thomas on Saturday, falling to 16-10 on the year and 4-6 in conference play.

Game 1

Dallas 3, St. Thomas 4

WP: Walker Holzhausen (2-1)

LP: Collin Johnson (2-3)

The Crusaders dug themselves a hole early, with three errors bringing in two runs with two outs in the top of the first to give St. Thomas the 2-0 lead.

But they quickly turned the tides in the third inning, as Caleb Hohman tied the game with a two-rbi double and Andrew Gaspar drove in Fernando Davila with a groundout to give Dallas the 3-2 lead.

But Dallas coughed up the lead in the fifth, as Jarod Smith reached second base on another error and was brought in with a single to tie the game at 3-3.

The Crusaders' bats were completely silenced after the third inning, as they only notched two hits the rest of the game.

After eight innings without allowing an earned run and seven strikeouts, Adrian Montenegro made way for Collin Johnson on the mound.  

Johnson, who leads the SCAC in saves, surrendered a solo homer to the first batter he faced, the first homer he's allowed all season, to give the Celts a 4-3 lead.  He set down the next three batters in order.

Dallas had no answer in the bottom half of the inning, giving St. Thomas the win.

Game 2

Dallas 4, St. Thomas 7

WP: Luke Sebesta (3-3)

LP: Dylan Krause (5-1)

Things started pretty typically for Dylan Krause in game two, setting down six of his first seven batters down in order to hold the Celts scoreless through two and a third.

That quickly changed in the third inning after a bunt single and two knocks to the outfield plated the first run of the day and put runners on first and second.  Then Mason Seay hit a three-run homer to put St. Thomas up 4-0; it was just the second homerun Krause has allowed all year, and it was already the most runs he had allowed in a single outing all season.

The Crusaders quickly halved the deficit in the bottom half of the inning.  Paxton Huff led off the inning with a solo homerun, his second of the season, then Davila scored on a wild pitch with two outs to make it a 4-2 game.

The two sides traded blows in the fifth and seventh innings to make it a 6-4 game.  The Celts were the more threatening of the two, but the Crusaders did well to limit the damage.  Krause got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, and Dominic Gill stranded two runners in both the sixth and seventh innings.

Dallas managed to get some baserunners here and there, but couldn't quite string anything together to cut into the lead.  The Celts added an insurance run in the ninth to put the final touches on the win.

The series will conclude tomorrow with a single game at 1:00 pm.