University of St. Thomas Athletics
Tarleton State
Game Notes - Baseball visits Texas for three vs. Tarleton State
4/14/2022 11:59:00 AM | Baseball
Game one starts at 2 p.m. on Friday. Saturday's game starts at 1 p.m. Live Video/Live Stats Links: https://tarletonsports.com/sports/baseball/schedule
Tarleton State of the Western Athletic Conference is 3-5 this season in games decided by one or two runs. The Texans finished 20-35 in 2021 in their first season of D-I competition. Last Sunday they broke a nine-game losing streak with a victory over Lamar, and won again Tuesday over Incarnate Word, 14-6. Alec Williams homered twice in the fifth inning alone to lead a 17-hit attack on Tuesday. TSU has slugged 43 home runs in 32 games so far while batting .273. They allow eight runs a game with a 7.20 staff ERA.
The Toms are scoring three runs a game and allowing 4.5 runs a contest. Their 20 losses include 14 one- or two-run defeats. That includes a 1-9 record in games decided by one run. They are 1-12 in games when they allow four or more runs.
Over their last eight games, St. Thomas is 1-7 despite allowing under four runs a game and being outscored just 27-20 in those contests.
Big Stage
Graham Laubscher on Tuesday was named Division I co-National Pitcher of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA). On Monday he was named Ticket Smarter Summit League Baseball Pitcher of the Week -- the first conference weekly honoree this season for the Purple.
He struck out a career-best 15 in a two-hit combined shutout of North Dakota State on April 9. That 6-0 win was the Bison's first season shutout loss in a nine-inning game.
The Toms received the national weekly pitching award seven times during their D-III era in the 20-year history of the award, all with Chris Olean as pitching coach or head coach.
Momentum
Last weekend the Toms played their best series of 2022, against Summit leader North Dakota State, (6-0 win; 4-1 and 8-7 losses). Tommie pitchers struck out 31 over 25 innings and as an offense the Purple outscored (14-12) and outhit (26-17) the Bison over the three contests. NDSU (19-10) came in 8-1 in its previous nine.
They followed that up with a strong showing at Minnesota two days later, leading 1-0 into the last of the seventh inning before falling 2-1. Soph RHP Duke Coborn allowed one run, three hits and three walks with three Ks in seven innings. The Toms stranded the tying run at third base in the last inning.
Who's Hot?
Kyle Halverson slugged four homers in the North Dakota State series to drive in six runs. He went 5-for-12 with two walks on the three games. He leads or shares the team lead in HRs (six), walks (15), runs (15), on-base % (.370) and steals (six). In his 100-game D-III era, Halverson recorded only four home runs. He has six HRs thus far in D-I over 25 games.
Freshman Brigs Richartz has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, along with one homer, two doubles, one triple and eight RBI over that span.
Charlie Bartholomew leads the Tommies with an .269 batting average and 25 hits in 25 games.
Ben Vujovich has 12 hits, seven runs and seven RBI in his last 12 games.
Sam Kulesa has 15 hits in his last 15 games.
Did You Know?
St. Thomas is halfway through its 2022 schedule on the calendar with just over five weeks remaining in the regular season... The Toms regularly start at least seven players from their D-III era.... the Purple have only been shut out twice in 25 games, to Power 5 teams Minnesota and Northwestern.
More Tommie Buzz
The Toms' staff ERA is 4.11 with 248 strikeouts and 121 walks over 212 innings while holding opposing teams to a .224 batting clip.
Among all 301 D-I teams, St. Thomas is among the top 25 nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (10.5); among the top 25 in fielding percentage (.978); and top 50 in ERA (4.11). Individually among D-I national leaders, Graham Laubscher (12.76) ranks in the top 40 in Ks per nine innings.
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