University of St. Thomas Athletics
Game Notes -- Baseball 45-Game Highlights for 2022
6/1/2022 2:00:00 PM | Baseball
Tommie Baseball (16-29 overall, 10-14 Summit) closed out its inaugural Division I season May 21 with a three-game sweep of Omaha -- the program's first weekend series sweep in 10 tries in 2022. The Toms posted comeback wins of 6-4 (trailed 4-0) and 5-2 (trailed 2-0) at Koch Diamond, and a comeback victory by a 9-8 score (trailed 7-1) in Saturday's game in Miesville, Minn.
After starting 2022 with a 5-21 won-loss record -- with 15 defeats by one or two runs -- St. Thomas went 11-8 over the final five weeks. The Toms' staff ERA of 4.90 was third best in the Summit League with 436 strikeouts and 215 walks over 382 innings. They allowed 53 HRs in 45 games, while the Purple hit 21 as a team.
The Omaha wins were impressive given the Mavs' general success this season, including a Summit League playoff berth and fourth-place finish, and their 5-5 record against Big Ten Conference teams. Omaha went 2-0 in the playoffs against league champion NDSU and took second in the playoff to Oral Roberts.
The Tommies previously played 39-win Oral Roberts tough on May 6-7 in Tulsa, losing a late 6-2 lead and falling 7-6 in 10 innings on Friday night and holding on to win 4-3 on Saturday. ORU took the series by a 2-1 margin. The Toms also played Summit champ North Dakota State close in all three, including a 6-0 win.
K-Per-9 Inning Record Set
Last season the Tommie pitching staff broke the program record for strikeouts with 438 over 387 innings. Despite the jump to D-I in 2022, the Toms recorded 436 Ks over 382 innings in 45 games.
St. Thomas' 10.27 strikeouts per nine innings breaks the 2021 record of 10.18. That 2022 total also led the Summit League and ranks in the top 25 nationally.
Did You Know?
The Toms beat Summit League Pitcher of the Year Ledgend Smith in a 4-3 road win at Oral Roberts (Smith allowed one earned run and two hits in 6.0 innings).
The Toms also beat NDSU staff ace Max Loven (three runs allowed in seven innings), and knocked out NDSU's All-Summit League pitcher Evan Sankey (four earned runs in three innings) of an eventual 8-7 Bison win.
On defense, St. Thomas recorded 13 outfield assists (runners thrown out trying to advance on the bases).
As expected, St. Thomas Baseball had a streak of 30 consecutive winning seasons end with the move into D-I in 2022.
The Toms went 10-6 in home and neutral-site games. After a 1-16 road start, they finished 6-23 in road games.
Charlie Bartholomew, Kyle Halverson, and Brigs Richartz had four-hit games. Ben Vujovich had a six-RBI games.
St. Thomas took five one-run losses (four on the road) to 30-plus win teams Iowa, Creighton, Oral Roberts, North Dakota State and Mount Mercy.
National Stats
Out of 300 D-I teams, the Tommies rank with the top national programs in three categories: strikeouts per nine innings (10.2, top 25); ERA (4.90, top 90); and fielding percentage (.974, top 60).
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Click HERE for complete postseason notes for Tommie Baseball
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