LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Third seeded St. Thomas (42-15) shut out second seeded Westmont (39-16) 5-0 in the Lawrenceville bracket of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.  The Bobcats won behind a masterful pitching perfomance by staff ace Marcos Barrios who recorded eight strikeouts over seven shutout innings while allowing just six hits and walking one. Desginated hitter Paul Chacin hit a two-run home run to start the scoring for the Bobcats, while first baseman Eric Santamaria went 2-4 with a double and two RBI and shortstop Cesar Ramirez went 3-5 with two runs scored.

Barrios was brilliant, not allowing an extra base hit and retiring 21 of the 28 batters he faced.  Half of his eight strikeouts came during a dominant stretch in the sixth and seventh innings when he struck out four consectuive batters, including the side in the sixth.  Westmont's Russell Harmening took the loss after allowing a season-high five runs (four earned) on seven hits in four innings of work.

Offensively, the Bobcats made a statement early as left fielder Jerry Downs hit a single with two outs in the bottom of the first.  That set up Paul Chacin who swang at the first pitch he saw, blasting it over the left-center field wall for his fourth home run of the year.  STU added another run in the third as catcher Steven Fischer was hit by pitch with the bases loaded scoring Ramirez.
 

In the fourth inning, STU opened up the lead with two more runs.  Right fielder Nico Hernandez and Ramirez hit back-to-back singles, then Downs was hit by pitch to load the bases.  With two outs and the bases loaded, Santamaria hit a single to center scoring Hernandez and Ramirez.

With the score still 5-0, relievers Brandon Valentin and Alex Viera combined to shut out Westmont in the eighth.  Closer Chris Rodriguez finished the game with a scoreless ninth innings which ended with a 6-4-3 double play.

The Bobcats advance to play on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. vs. top seed and tournament host Georgia Gwinnett.  Live stats/broadcast of the game is available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ggc/