LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Third seeded St. Thomas (43-15) were dominant in a 10-2 win over  top seed and host Georgia Gwinnett (48-13) in the Lawrenceville bracket of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round.  The Bobcats are now one win away from a trip to the NAIA World Series and will play an opponent still to be determined on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
 
STU's pitching continued to dominate at the Opening Round as Alex Hernandez, Tyeler Checkley and Alex Viera combined to allow two runs in the contest.  With a shutout in their first game of the Opening Round, the Bobcats have allowed just two runs over 18 innings for a team ERA of 1.00.  The Bobcats went 12.1 shutout innings in the Opening Round before surrendering a run in the fourth inning.
 
Checkley earned the win after going 3.2 innings, allowing just one run on four hits.  Hernandez started the game and went 3.1 innings allowing one run on five hits.  Viera pitched the eighth and the ninth, allowing no runs on two hits.
 
The Bobcats scored 10 runs on 16 hits and four Georgia Gwinnett errors.  Eric Santamaria led the way offensively going 3-5 with a double, one RBI and a run scored.  In total, 10 different Bobcats recorded hits and six different Bobcats registered an RBI.  Including Santamaria, five players had multiple hits with Cesar Ramirez, Jerry Downs, Paul Chacin, and Adam Duarte each recording two hits.
 
The Bobcats jumped on the Grizzlies early scoring three runs in the first inning and three more in the second.  Nico Hernandez led off the game with a double to left-center, followed by back-to-back singles by Cesar Ramirez and Downs who's single driving in STU's first run.  A ground out by Chacin scored Ramirez, followed by a RBI-single by Santamaria to give STU a 3-0 lead.
 
STU led the second with back-to-back singles by Brandon Canizares and Adam Duarte which paved the way for another three-run inning on two GGC errors.  The Bobcats would add two more insurance runs in the sixth inning and finished the game with two runs in the top of the ninth.
 
The Bobcats now await the loser's bracket to work itself out and will play St. Catharine, Westmont or Georgia Gwinnett at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.  A win in that game would send the Bobcats to the NAIA World Series for the first time since 2007.  A loss on Thursday would set up a winner-take-all game on Friday at 11 a.m.  Live stats/broadcast of every game is available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ggc/