Box Score The dark clouds that hovered over southeastern Ohio finally departed, but not those which hovered over John Carroll's NCAA baseball fortunes.

Leading 7-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, John Carroll could not hold the advantage as the Blue Streaks surrendered four runs in the ninth, then gave up the winning run in the bottom of the 12th in falling to Thomas More, 8-7.

Rallying from a 3-0 deficit, John Carroll scored four runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the eighth to build a 7-3 lead which the Blue Streaks took into the final inning.

But a lead off walk, then four consecutive hits by the Saints after one out chased reliever Kevin Rosinski and closed the deficit to 7-4. With bases loaded, reliever Anthony Libertini induced a sacrifice fly for the second out but another run came home to make the score 7-5.

Libertini then walked two consecutive batters to plate a third Thomas More run in the inning.

With bases still loaded, Libertini got a ground ball hit to short, but in allowing the runner to pass, Mark Huddle was unable to field the grounder cleanly and the tying run scored.

John Carroll had its chances in extra inning. The Blue Streaks scored first in the 10th on an RBI by Chet Lauer, but Thomas More answered with a single tally on an RBI single  by Thomas Baumann, a freshman who had entered the game as a pinch runner in the 9th.

In the 12th, Huddle led off with a double, but with two outs, was thrown out at home trying to score the go-ahead run on a single by pinch hitter Jacob Schriner.

The Saints had one on and one out when a second Huddle error put runners at the corners. Reliever Brandon maddern was able to get a swinging strikeout for out number two, but then hit a batter to load the bases.

It was again baumann who played hero, as a sinking liner to center landed in front of a diving Robby Cifelli for the game winning hit.

John Carroll is now winless in the four games it has played in the NCAA Division III Championship, losing three of the four by a single run. In 1984, JCU lost to North Park (9-2) and Marietta (7-6), and then dropped its first game of the 2014 tournament after a spirited comeback, 9-8, to Salisbury.

After yesterday's games were rained out, John Carroll and Thomas More returned to Don Schaly Stadium in what amounted to an elimination game in this eight-team Mideast regional. LaRoche had eliminated Penn State-Berks in the first game played today.

Thomas More, the #7 seed who had lost to Case Western Reserve by a 6-2 count in its opening game, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning without recording a hit off starter Andrew Doring. The Saints tacked on an additional run in the bottom of the fourth.

John Carroll, the #6 seed in the region, answered in the fifth when Bobby Sabatino delivered a bases loaded double that cleared the bases. He would later score in the inning ona  ground out by Jimmy Spagna.

The Blue Streaks incrased their lead to 6-3 on a two-run double by Spagna.

Cifelli added what appeared to be an insurance run in the eight inning with an RBI single, setting up the wild finish to the ninth.

John Carroll ends its season with a record of 24-17, tying for the second most victories in a single year. The Blue Streaks captured their first Ohio Athletic Conference tournament title in 2014.