University of St. Thomas Athletics
St. Scholastica
Baseball opens season Sunday night in Dome vs. Saints
3/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
No. 22-ranked St. Thomas opens its 2009 baseball season with two tough Metrodome twinbills in the opening week of March. The Tommies play a 6:30 doubleheader Sunday against No. 14-rated St. Scholastica, then play a pair next Friday night at 10 p.m. against No. 3-rated UW-Whitewater.
St. Scholastica has endured a gut-wrenching school year. The Saints' 17-year head coach John Baggs 
died Tuesday morning of cancer after being diagnosed last October. CSS went ahead and played late Tuesday night in the Metrodome and beat UW-LaCrosse 6-3. They led the Eagles 6-3 in game two in the fifth inning, but the game was halted by a time limit and doesn't count as an official game.
Baggs had the most victories of any Saints coach in any sport. He was hired in 1991 at age 24 to take over a program that was 37-64 in the previous five seasons, Baggs compiled a 531-197 record and had 18 All-Americans, including 12 who later signed pro contracts.
Coach Dennis Denning starts his 15th season needing 19 wins to reach 500 on his college career.
Denning saw his 2008 team finish 34-9, win the program's sixth consecutive MIAC title, and reach the NCAA playoffs for the 12th time in 13 seasons. But Denning graduated three All-Americans -- pitcher Lonnie Robinson (21-3, 119 Ks on career), catcher Matt Pexa (.406, 167 hits on career), and OF Chris Bullis (.434, 177 hits on career).
PHOTO: UST led the nation in fielding percentage in 2008
The Tommies have 15 returners in their chase for a seventh consecutive MIAC championship, led by junior RHP Matt Schuld, and two returning All-Region honorees in Dan Leslie, a senior RHP-3B, and Tom Wippler, a junior 1B.
More than 10 others who have played extensively return, including seniors Erik Olson (RHP), Louie Salmen (2B) and Brian Schmitz (OF-DH); juniors Matt Olson (OF), Roy Larson (SS), Jake Kraemer (LHP); and sophomores Matt McQuillan (OF), Taylor Rahm (OF), Ryan Fahey (RHP), Drew Cremisino (OF) and Tim Kahle (SS). Another sophomore, Charles Bruchu, is out for the season with an arm injury. The Tommies have five players up from their junior-varsity program.
The five newcomers on the current varsity roster include sophomore catcher Ben Wartman, who had 13 touchdowns and 1,311 rushing yards as an All-West region running back in football; freshmen pitchers Bryce Gapinski of Foley, John Licht of Minneapolis Southwest and Brad Weiers of New Prague; and freshman 1B-DH John Means of Burnsville.
2008 Tommie Baseball Notes:
--Despite injuries that limited three key pitchers, the Tommies' 34-9 record gave the program a 30-win season for the 12th time in the last 13 years.
--St. Thomas became the first institution to win six consecutive MIAC baseball crowns. UST's 18-2 conference record marked the 16th consecutive season in which Tommie baseball won 15 or more MIAC games. In all, the Toms won 21 of 23 games vs. conference foes.
--The Toms went 3-0 in MIAC postseaspon play and won the conference playoff title for the seventh time 
in nine seasons. UST has now won either the conference regular-season or postseason baseball championship in each of the last 13 seasons.
--St. Thomas is a combined 216-19 vs. conference foes in baseball and softball over the last five seasons -- 123-2 in softball, 93-17 in baseball. That includes an impressive 28-2 MIAC postseason record. St. Thomas was the lone Division III institution to be ranked all season in the top 20 in both baseball and softball.
PHOTO: Erik Olson is back for his fourth season on the mound
--Senior OF Chris Bullis finished as the Tommies' career and season batting-average king as he hit .489 to finish fourth in Division III and closed at .434 on his career. Bullis made ABCA second-team All-America and ended his career with 177 hits, 39 walks, 33 doubles, seven triples, 10 HRs, .623 slugging% in 132 games.
--Senior RHP Lonnie Robinson finished 21-3 on his career with 119 strikeouts in 106 innings and made ABCA third-team All-America. Robinson has played on Tommie basketball baseball teams that have won all seven MIAC regular-season titles and 6-of-7 conference postseason crowns. Robinson was named National Pitcher of the Week in April, and in the last 17 days of the season was 4-0 with 1.68 ERA with four consecutive complete-game victories.
--2007 All-American Matt Pexa, a senior catcher, made honorable mention All-America in 2008 after he hit .438 to rank in the top 50 of Division III. Pexa finished his three-year career with a .403 average with 167 hits in 121 games and helped the Tommies post a 99-32 record. In nine career MIAC playoff games, Pexa batted .488 (20-of-41).
--Junior 3B Dan Leslie earned first-team All-Region and first-team All-MIAC for the third year in a row and has 113 hits in 114 career games. Leslie ranked seventh in Division III as toughest to strikeout as he fanned just four times in 143 plate appearances. Leslie had just one error at third base in March, April and May covering 66 defensive chances (none in last 47 chances). Leslie has improved his average from .202 as a freshman to .341 as a sophomore to .392 as a senior.
--Sophomore 1B Tom Wippler has played in 92 career games and has 95 hits, 61 RBI and just two errors in 662 defensive chances. Wippler made second-team All-Region and first-team All-MIAC.
--Sophomore Matt Schuld faced Trinity (Conn.) -- the eventual NCAA champion and 45-1 finisher -- and shut out the Bantams over six innings. Schuld also held third-place NCAA finisher UW-Whitewater to one run in nine innings; and had complete-game wins over Gustavus, Bethel and NCAA playoff qualifier UW-Stevens Point.
--The MIAC baseball title helped St. Thomas win the men's conference all-sport title for the second time in four years. Baseball's NCAA playoff appearance and regional finish helped UST post a 12th-place national finish in the Directors' Cup all-sport competition.
--St. Thomas made the NCAA regional playoffs for the 13th time in 14 seasons. Only SUNY-Cortland (14) has a higher number of NCAA playoff trips in Division III since 1995. After a 2-0 regional start, UST lost a pair of close games to finish third. The Toms' 5-2 postseason record moved 14-year head coach Dennis Denning's all-time postseason record to 60-32, including a 23-6 record in the nine-year history of the MIAC playoffs and a 58-26 record since 1998.
--The Tommies were ranked in the top 20 nationally all season, with a high of No. 11 in the last poll. The Tommies finished 8-2 on their March spring trip to Fort Myers, including a loss to eventual NCAA champion Trinity (45-1) in a game UST led 2-1 in the seventh inning. UST is now 117-29 in Florida games in Denning's era.
--St. Thomas led Division III in fielding percentage at .975. The Toms' 36 errors in 43 games included just one by Wippler at first base in 341 chances, and 17 by starting/platoon players at 2B, SS and 3B. Junior Louie Salmen had a streak of 101 consecutive plays at second base without an error. Leslie had just one error in 66 chances at third base in March, April and May and takes a streak of 47 chances into next season; senior SS Mark Boland had a streak of 51 consecutive chances without an error.
--UST batted .357 and had a .540 slugging percentage to rank in the top 10 nationally in each category. The Toms' 32 home runs included round-trippers from 14 different players.
--St. Thomas was swept in two close games by Hamline -- the first time in 10 seasons the Tommies were swept at home. The Tommies have only been swept in the conference four times in Denning's tenure, covering 140 twinbills. UST still swept nine of 10 MIAC doubleheaders for the third time in history.
--Denning is Division III's winningest active head coach with his 481-144 overall record (.770 win%). That includes a 237-46 record vs. MIAC foes. Denning has had 11 Division III All-Americans in 14 years.
--St. Thomas' 10-2 home record let it improve to 55-10 in its last 65 games on campus.
