2001 Baseball Team (2023) - Hall of Fame - The University of St. Thomas

2001 Baseball Team

Induction:
2023

The third time was the charm as Tommie Baseball followed up back-to-back runner-up finishes at the College World Series with the 2001 NCAA Division III National Championship tile… the Toms went 4-1 through the NCAA Tournament to secure the first national title in program and conference history… St. Thomas avenged a semifinals loss to beat Marietta College 8-4 in the national title game and outscored its opponents 46-20 during the postseason tournament… Head Coach Dennis Denning, in his seventh season, was named the 2001 Division III National Coach of the Year… the Denning-era continued its success with a 255-69 record, the third-best win-loss record in Division III at the time… Brad Bonine was named the College World Series Most Valuable Player… five Tommies were named to the CWS All-Tournament Team including Bonine, Tom Carroll, Jake Mauer, Brian Whinnery, and Tony Wolverton… the Purple led all of NCAA Division III with a .372 batting average in 2001… St. Thomas was ranked No. 1 in the nation and entered May with a 27-4 record before finishing with marks of 15-5 in the MIAC and 39-10 overall… after finishing the regular season third in the MIAC standings, the Tommies opened the MIAC Playoffs with wins of 10-2 and 13-3 before taking the conference title with a 9-2 victory over St. Olaf… Mauer was named the Co-Player of the Year and second team All-American, and was one of four Tommies to earn all-conference honors including Wolverton, Matt Buzzell, Bryan Edstrom… Mauer set program records in hits (243), runs (181), and games played (181), and had a 30-game hitting streak in 2001, in addition to being named MIAC Player of the Week once… Buzzell led the MIAC in triples (4), Wolverton led in stolen bases (9), and Nick Beissel led in home runs (10)… as a team, the Purple led the MIAC in runs (206), triples (14), home runs (32), walks (68), and batting average (.377)… the Tommies offensive marks were some of the best in conference history, ranking third all-time in runs scored, fourth in triples, fifth in RBI (174), and also recorded the second-fewest walks allowed (32), at the time… Mark Fenstad tied an NCAA single-game record with two triples in one inning on April 24 against Wisconsin-Stout.