UST Baseball 50-Game Quick Notes -- May 30

May 30, 2012

St. Thomas Baseball 50-Game Quick Notes -– May 30

--St. Thomas (41-9) will play Marietta (Ohio) (46-8) at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the College World Series in Appleton, Wis. The loser is eliminated and takes third place in the nation; the winner plays Wheaton (Mass.) (41-10) at 2:30 p.m. for the NCAA Division III crown.

--St. Thomas needs one victory to tie its program record for wins (42, set by 1999 NCAA runner-up team)

--The 2009 Tommies won two games on the final day to claim the NCAA title out of the loser’s bracket

--The Tommies are 7-1 in NCAA playoff games and are averaging 10 runs and 13 hits in those eight games.

--The Toms are batting .358 in four Appleton games (54 hits) and batting .353 in all eight NCAA playoff games (105 hits)

--St. Thomas is 17-1 in 2012 in games decided by one or two runs after going 7-12 in such games in 2011

--St. Thomas was unranked in the 2012 preseason poll by D3Baseball.com (Marietta was No. 1, Wheaton was No. 18)

--St. Thomas now has a 19-7 record in five trips to the D-III World Series and is playing on the final day for the fifth time.

--Three Toms will bring long hitting streaks into Wednesday’s play – Charles Bruchu (14 games), Jack Hogan (13) and Tim Kuzniar (10). Dan Reichert has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games

--Bruchu has 26 hits in 13 postseason games this month and is 7-for-19 in Appleton

--Hogan, a part-time starter during the regular season, is 9-for-19 in Appleton. He’s batting .410 in his last 21 games (21-of-51)

--Dan Reichert is 8-for-15 in Appleton and batting .520 in seven NCAA playoff games (13-of-25)

--Tim Kuzniar is 7-for-21 in Appleton

--Nick Reichert is 5-for-12 in Appleton 

--Both Dylan Thomas and Jon Kinsel have four hits and four walks in Appleton 

--Sophomore RHP Steve Maher (13-1, two saves) broke a Tommie season record for wins last Friday in the win over Christopher Newport. Maher now has 99 strikeouts and on Tuesday passed Coach Chris Olean (97) for No. 2 on the Tommie season list. Maher needs three Ks to tie Dick Washburn’s 49-year-old school record.

--In his last 11 pitching appearances, junior Dylan Thomas is 8-0 with an 0.98 ERA.

--St. Thomas is 40-5 in games when it scores three or more runs 

--The Toms have 10 comeback wins after trailing in the middle to late innings 

--The Toms ranks first nationally among 365 Division III programs in two categories --  .975 field % and 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. UST is 30-5 in games this season when it commits one or less errors 

--Tommie pitchers are limiting pinch hitters this season to an .067 batting clip (2-for-30)

--Kinsel is the lone Tommie to start all 50 games. 

--St. Thomas teams have secured top-10 NCAA team finishes in six sports in 2011-12: baseball; football (tie third); women’s basketball (third); men’s indoor T&F (tie fifth); volleyball (tie fifth); and men’s hockey (tie ninth).

--UST has captured 15 national team championships in seven different sports. In the last 14 years alone, St. Thomas has 10 top-2 NCAA finishes. The Tommies captured five NCAA team titles -– baseball (2001, 2009); softball (2004, 2005); and men’s basketball (2011). UST also has placed second nationally five times in that span -- baseball, (1999, 2000), men’s hockey (2000, 2005); and softball (2006). 

--If UST is unable to win twice on Wednesday, this will mark the fifth sport where Tommie teams were beaten in the playoffs by the eventual NCAA champion (football and men’s basketball/at Whitewater; men’s hockey/at St. Norbert; women’s basketball/to Illinois Wesleyan in nationals semifinals).