University of St. Thomas Athletics
St. Olaf
Baseball: Tommies get a lift from Licht
5/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By DOUG HENNES
OSHKOSH, Wis. - St. Thomas baseball coach Dennis Denning typically isn't effusive in praising his baseball players. He'll give them credit for a good, smart game, pat them on the back and look ahead.
So when Denning interrupted John Licht's interview with reporters after the Tommies 6-0 win over the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Friday to say, "That was the best-pitched game ever by a freshman at St. Thomas," he raised a few eyebrows.
"Really?" someone asked the 15-year coach.
"For sure," he replied.
Licht (pictured at right) came into the game with a formidable task: The Tommies had lost 5-2 earlier Friday to St. Olaf and needed a win to stay alive in the NCAA Division III regional tournament
. It also didn't help that in his last outing, against St. Olaf on Sunday in the MIAC playoffs, Licht gave up a first-inning grand slam and lasted only one and one-third innings.
The freshman from Minneapolis Southwest shrugged off those memories and any doubts and tossed a four-hit shutout against the Pointers to knock them out of the tournament. He threw just 98 pitches - 72 strikes and 26 balls - and racked up nine strikeouts, including three in the fourth inning and two in both the second and sixth.
"I was pressing too much in the St. Olaf loss last weekend," he said. "Today, I just went out there, threw my stuff and had fun."
Pitching coach Chris Olean '99, a Tommie All-American as a senior, had a candid pre-game conversation with Licht. "I just told him to be aggressive and to trust his stuff," Olean said. "Guess it worked, huh?"
It helped that Licht's "stuff" included a first-pitch fastball that usually was for a strike, "and that helped set up my curve," he said. "My curve is my 'out' pitch. It was working today, too."
The Tommies have struggled at the plate throughout the tournament and picked up only seven hits against Stevens Point. But those hits, combined with three walks, two hit batsmen and two Pointer errors, led to runs in four innings. Once staked to a 4-0 lead in the fourth, Licht cruised to the win.
St. Thomas will need to beat St. Olaf twice today to advance to the national tournament next weekend in Appleton, Wis. The Tommies are 2-4 against their archrivals this year and have lost three straight, including Friday's 10 a.m. game when the Oles scored five runs in the third inning. The Tommies' only threat came in the eighth, when they scored once and had runners at first and third with no out, but hit two pop-ups and an inning-ending strikeout.
* * *
Tim Leslie, father of third baseman Dan Leslie, was back in the park for Friday's games after falling from the bleachers Thursday night.
A railing broke on the top level of the bleachers along the third baseline and Leslie fell 10 feet to the asphalt. He suffered a concussion and a possible separated shoulder and was taken to Theda-Clark Medical Center in Neenah, where he was held overnight.
"Sore all over," he said while sitting in a lawn chair along the first baseline. "But I'm here."
