Johnson's Pitching Keeps St. Olaf Undefeated

Box Score

     St. Olaf used a strong pitching performance from Paul Johnson to defeat Coe 8-2 Thursday afternoon in an NCAA Division III regional tournament game at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids.

     Johnson pitched seven strong innings for the Oles allowing one run on eight hits while striking out six. Johnson improved to 6-2 with the victory as St. Olaf (30-8) will face the region�s top-seed Ripon (33-5) Friday at noon. Coe (27-18) will play again tonight at 8 p.m. against UW-Stevens Point.

     St. Olaf scored a pair of runs in the third inning on an Andrew Schmiesing run-scoring groundout and a Kohawks� fielding error. Schmiesing was three-for-five on the afternoon while driving in two runs.

     Josh Schultheis hit a three-run homer to center field to give the Oles a commanding 5-0 lead in the fifth inning. Schultheis finished the day three-for-five also adding a run-scoring single in the seventh.

    Chad Kramer drove in the first Coe run of the afternoon with a double to left center in the sixth as he finished three-for-four. Coe, which had hits in eight of nine innings and loaded the bases in the seventh and eighth, scored its other run on a double play in the eighth.