University of St. Thomas Athletics
Tuesday, March 21
Manhattan, Kan.
6:00 p.m. Central
at
Kansas State
Photo by: Wesley Dean
St. Thomas heads to Kansas State for two-game series Tuesday and Wednesday
3/20/2023 11:37:00 AM | Baseball
St. Paul, Minn. -- St. Thomas Baseball comes off its Summit League opening weekend with a two-game, midweek series March 21-22 at Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan.
The Tommies and Wildcats will play non-conference games with scheduled first pitch times of 6 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday and Wednesday at Tointon Family Stadium.
Oral Roberts Series (Last Time Out)
• St. Thomas was handed three losses by Oral Roberts during the Summit League opening weekend. The Tommies scored first in both games one and two before being swept 10-2, 21-2 (F/7), and 8-2 in Tulsa, Okla.
• The top four batters of the Tommie lineup (Richartz, Moris, Vujovich, O'Connell) excelled during game one as each recorded two hits. Richartz led off the game with a hit, his fourth instance of the season, to set up an RBI single by Dylan O'Connell for a 1-0 lead. ORU tied the game in the bottom of the second before taking its final lead with two runs in the fifth.
• Tanner Marsh got game two off to an exciting start with a home run robbery in right field before sending out a two-run home run, his first of the season, to put the Tommies ahead, 2-0. The Golden Eagles followed to score 21 unanswered runs between the second and sixth innings.
• Colin Lewandowski drove in the Tommies' lone runs of the series finale on a two-RBI triple in the fourth inning. Just his second career hit, Lewandowski's RBI knock brought St. Thomas within three, 5-2, before Oral Roberts tacked on three runs in the eighth.
• Moris and Charlie Bartholomew led St. Thomas with four hits each while Richartz and O'Connell added three hits each. Richartz scored two runs through the series and upped his total to to team-high seven on the season.
The Lead Off Man
• Since Brigs Richartz led off the season with a single to center field on the very first pitch, he reached base in 12 straight games before being denied a 13th in the series finale at Oral Roberts.
• He leads the team with 14 hits, 16 total bases, seven runs scored and two doubles. Richartz has led off four games with a base hit.
• Richartz led off the season with a six-game hitting streak, including two multi-hit games. He scored four runs over the first series, Feb. 17-19 at CSU Bakersfield, including a three-run game during the Tommies' 8-4 win over the Roadrunners.
Kolby Knowledge
• Kolby Gartner has three starts this season, going 7.2 innings with seven hits and one walk allowed with three strikeouts during his last outing March 4 at Saint Louis. He now sits at 21.0 IP on the year, recording 15 strikeouts, five walks, and a 3.00 ERA in those appearances, his ERA ranking second in the Summit League.
• Gartner opened the season for the Tommies on the mound Feb. 17 with eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings at CSU Bakersfield. He followed up with a complete game loss Feb. 25 at Sacramento State, throwing four strikeouts with one walk and one earned run allowed.
Four for Two
• Senior Charlie Bartholomew and junior Max Moris each began the Summit League season hot from the plate, recording four hits each. Bartholomew, who only played in games two and three against ORU, went 2-for-3 during both games. Moris went 4-of-10 while playing in all three games, recording two hits during game one and two during game three.
• Bartholomew's back-to-back games with a hit extended his team-high streak to four games.
Enck Attack
• Junior Matthew Enck went 5-for-11 during the Saint Louis series, including a 2-of-3 performance from the plate in game one to lead the Tommies.
• Enck finished game two with another two-hit game, this time going 2-of-4 with two RBI, two walks and one run scored.
Next Up for the Tommies
• Coming off a nine-game winning streak, Kansas State lost a three-game series at Baylor on March 17-19. The Wildcats won the first game of the series, 8-1, before falling 8-4 and 8-4 over the final two games in Waco, Texas.
• KSU outscored its opponents 105-30 during its nine-game winning streak.
• The Wildcats are ninth in the country and tied for the Big 12 lead with 57 stolen bases on 73 attempts. KSU is third nationally with 147 walks drawn and 24th with 178 runs scored, which are both second in the Big 12 to Texas Tech. Kansas State's 28 home runs rank third in the conference and 38th in the country.
• Sophomore Brendan Jones is seventh nationally with 15 stolen bases and is 11th with 22 walks drawn. Senior Owen Boerema (3-0) leads the starting pitchers with a 2.88 ERA in five starts and 25.0 innings.
Summit League Ranks (As of 3/20/23)
Team
2nd in Earned Run Average, 7.15
4th in Opp. Batting Average, .283
4th in K/9 Inn., 8.24
4th in WHIP, 1.79
6th in Fielding Percentage, 0.959 percent
Individual - Pitching
2nd in Earned Run Average, 3.00 ERA,Kolby Gartner
3rd in Opposing Batting Average, .173 AVG, Kolby Gartner
8th in Earned Run Average, 4.60, Duke Coborn
10th in Innings Pitched, 21.0 IP, Kolby Gartner
11th in Opposing Batting Average, .277 Duke Coborn
Individual - Fielding
T-1st in Fielding Percentage, 1.000, Joe Vos/Ben Vujovich
T-6th in Caught Stealing By, 2, Charlie Bartholomew
7th in Assists, 29 total assists, Matthew Enck
8th in Assists, 28 total assists, Sam Kulesa
8th in Putouts, 79 total putouts, Charlie Bartholomew
Leading Off
• St. Thomas began 2023 1-3 during Opening Weekend at CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 17-19.
• The Tommies fell in the first two games of the series by a combined 11-1 before coming away with an 8-4 win in game three of the four-game series.
• Junior Kolby Gartner (0-1) tossed eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings during game one, totaling seven through the first 4.0 frames. He allowed just two baserunners through five innings.
• Sophomore Jacob Mrosko took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in game two before it was broken up on a one-out double down the left field line. Mrosko exited before three runs were scored in the sixth by CSUB.
• Of CSUB's 25 runs in the series, 11 were scored in the sixth inning.
Late Inning Blues
• The Tommies have allowed 101 runs this season, with nearly half of that total coming between the sixth and eighth innings. Opponents have scored 20 runs in the sixth and 23 runs in the eighth, in addition to another 15 allowed in the second.
Extra Innings Play
• The Tommies and Saint Louis went to extra innings in game two of the double header on Saturday, March 4 during a thrilling 13-inning game.
• Tying the game with a leadoff home run in the eighth inning, SLU forced the game into an extra innings affair. The Tommies left one runner on base in each of the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings before taking the lead in the 13th with a Joe Roder double, followed by RBI singles from Enck and O'Connell.
• The Billikens put its first three batters on base in the home half of the 13th to set up a game-tying, two-RBI single with no outs. Two St. Thomas errors ensued while a bases load, hit by pitch ended the game.
Preseason Headlines
• Freshmen Dylan O'Connell (3B) and Nolan Kemp (RHP) were named the St. Thomas Player and Pitcher to Watch, as released in the 2023 Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• St. Thomas was selected to finish fifth in the Summit Preseason Poll.
• Dylan O'Connell was named the 2023 Preseason Summit League Freshman of the Year by D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game.
• Ben Vujovich was named to the 2023 Preseason Summit League All-Conference Team by Perfect Game.
A Look Back at 2022
• St. Thomas comes off a 16-29 overall record during the 2022 season, finishing fifth in the Summit League with a 10-14 record.
• The Tommies return 25 student-athletes from the 2022 roster and bring in 12 newcomers.
• The Tommies lost 16 games by one or two runs in 2022.
• St. Thomas earned notable wins over the 2022 Summit League Regular Season Champions North Dakota State, 6-0 on April 9 in St. Paul, Minn., and the Summit League Tournament Champions Oral Roberts, 4-3 on May 7 in Tulsa, Okla.
• In 2022 the Tommies ranked eighth in the nation with 208 earned runs allowed, tied for 20th with 10.27 K/9 Innings, tied for 34th with 8.42 H/9 Innings, tied for 52nd with a .974 fielding percentage, and tied for 82nd with an ERA of 4.90.
• The Tommies set a program record with 438 total strikeouts and in K/9 (10.27).
• St. Thomas garnered two player of the week and two pitcher of the week honors from the Summit League last season. Among the returners, Kolby Gartner was named the Pitcher of the Week once, Sam Kulesa the Player of the Week once and Brigs Richartz the Player of the Week once.
Leading the Pack
• Chris Olean begins his 14th season with St. Thomas in 2023. He has totaled an overall record of 355-189-1 (338-148-1 in NCAA Division III) since being named the head coach prior to the 2010 season.
• Olean is a three-time NCAA DIII Region Coach of the Year and closed out its DIII era by winning championships in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and region en route to a national runner-up finish and 37-10 record.
• During the last 12 DIII seasons the Purple won eight MIAC Championships, capped by third-place national finishes in both 2012 and 2014, in addition to the runner-up finish in 2021.
• Olean mentored seven DIII All-American pitchers. He was voted MIAC and Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2012, 2013, and 2021. In addition, Olean works with the Tommie pitching staff, which was a perennial top-10 group in DIII baseball.
Follow Along
For more information on St. Thomas Baseball, follow along on Twitter at @tommiebase and Instagram at @tommiebaseball
The Tommies and Wildcats will play non-conference games with scheduled first pitch times of 6 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday and Wednesday at Tointon Family Stadium.
Oral Roberts Series (Last Time Out)
• St. Thomas was handed three losses by Oral Roberts during the Summit League opening weekend. The Tommies scored first in both games one and two before being swept 10-2, 21-2 (F/7), and 8-2 in Tulsa, Okla.
• The top four batters of the Tommie lineup (Richartz, Moris, Vujovich, O'Connell) excelled during game one as each recorded two hits. Richartz led off the game with a hit, his fourth instance of the season, to set up an RBI single by Dylan O'Connell for a 1-0 lead. ORU tied the game in the bottom of the second before taking its final lead with two runs in the fifth.
• Tanner Marsh got game two off to an exciting start with a home run robbery in right field before sending out a two-run home run, his first of the season, to put the Tommies ahead, 2-0. The Golden Eagles followed to score 21 unanswered runs between the second and sixth innings.
• Colin Lewandowski drove in the Tommies' lone runs of the series finale on a two-RBI triple in the fourth inning. Just his second career hit, Lewandowski's RBI knock brought St. Thomas within three, 5-2, before Oral Roberts tacked on three runs in the eighth.
• Moris and Charlie Bartholomew led St. Thomas with four hits each while Richartz and O'Connell added three hits each. Richartz scored two runs through the series and upped his total to to team-high seven on the season.
The Lead Off Man
• Since Brigs Richartz led off the season with a single to center field on the very first pitch, he reached base in 12 straight games before being denied a 13th in the series finale at Oral Roberts.
• He leads the team with 14 hits, 16 total bases, seven runs scored and two doubles. Richartz has led off four games with a base hit.
• Richartz led off the season with a six-game hitting streak, including two multi-hit games. He scored four runs over the first series, Feb. 17-19 at CSU Bakersfield, including a three-run game during the Tommies' 8-4 win over the Roadrunners.
Kolby Knowledge
• Kolby Gartner has three starts this season, going 7.2 innings with seven hits and one walk allowed with three strikeouts during his last outing March 4 at Saint Louis. He now sits at 21.0 IP on the year, recording 15 strikeouts, five walks, and a 3.00 ERA in those appearances, his ERA ranking second in the Summit League.
• Gartner opened the season for the Tommies on the mound Feb. 17 with eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings at CSU Bakersfield. He followed up with a complete game loss Feb. 25 at Sacramento State, throwing four strikeouts with one walk and one earned run allowed.
Four for Two
• Senior Charlie Bartholomew and junior Max Moris each began the Summit League season hot from the plate, recording four hits each. Bartholomew, who only played in games two and three against ORU, went 2-for-3 during both games. Moris went 4-of-10 while playing in all three games, recording two hits during game one and two during game three.
• Bartholomew's back-to-back games with a hit extended his team-high streak to four games.
Enck Attack
• Junior Matthew Enck went 5-for-11 during the Saint Louis series, including a 2-of-3 performance from the plate in game one to lead the Tommies.
• Enck finished game two with another two-hit game, this time going 2-of-4 with two RBI, two walks and one run scored.
Next Up for the Tommies
• Coming off a nine-game winning streak, Kansas State lost a three-game series at Baylor on March 17-19. The Wildcats won the first game of the series, 8-1, before falling 8-4 and 8-4 over the final two games in Waco, Texas.
• KSU outscored its opponents 105-30 during its nine-game winning streak.
• The Wildcats are ninth in the country and tied for the Big 12 lead with 57 stolen bases on 73 attempts. KSU is third nationally with 147 walks drawn and 24th with 178 runs scored, which are both second in the Big 12 to Texas Tech. Kansas State's 28 home runs rank third in the conference and 38th in the country.
• Sophomore Brendan Jones is seventh nationally with 15 stolen bases and is 11th with 22 walks drawn. Senior Owen Boerema (3-0) leads the starting pitchers with a 2.88 ERA in five starts and 25.0 innings.
Summit League Ranks (As of 3/20/23)
Team
2nd in Earned Run Average, 7.15
4th in Opp. Batting Average, .283
4th in K/9 Inn., 8.24
4th in WHIP, 1.79
6th in Fielding Percentage, 0.959 percent
Individual - Pitching
2nd in Earned Run Average, 3.00 ERA,Kolby Gartner
3rd in Opposing Batting Average, .173 AVG, Kolby Gartner
8th in Earned Run Average, 4.60, Duke Coborn
10th in Innings Pitched, 21.0 IP, Kolby Gartner
11th in Opposing Batting Average, .277 Duke Coborn
Individual - Fielding
T-1st in Fielding Percentage, 1.000, Joe Vos/Ben Vujovich
T-6th in Caught Stealing By, 2, Charlie Bartholomew
7th in Assists, 29 total assists, Matthew Enck
8th in Assists, 28 total assists, Sam Kulesa
8th in Putouts, 79 total putouts, Charlie Bartholomew
Leading Off
• St. Thomas began 2023 1-3 during Opening Weekend at CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 17-19.
• The Tommies fell in the first two games of the series by a combined 11-1 before coming away with an 8-4 win in game three of the four-game series.
• Junior Kolby Gartner (0-1) tossed eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings during game one, totaling seven through the first 4.0 frames. He allowed just two baserunners through five innings.
• Sophomore Jacob Mrosko took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in game two before it was broken up on a one-out double down the left field line. Mrosko exited before three runs were scored in the sixth by CSUB.
• Of CSUB's 25 runs in the series, 11 were scored in the sixth inning.
Late Inning Blues
• The Tommies have allowed 101 runs this season, with nearly half of that total coming between the sixth and eighth innings. Opponents have scored 20 runs in the sixth and 23 runs in the eighth, in addition to another 15 allowed in the second.
Extra Innings Play
• The Tommies and Saint Louis went to extra innings in game two of the double header on Saturday, March 4 during a thrilling 13-inning game.
• Tying the game with a leadoff home run in the eighth inning, SLU forced the game into an extra innings affair. The Tommies left one runner on base in each of the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings before taking the lead in the 13th with a Joe Roder double, followed by RBI singles from Enck and O'Connell.
• The Billikens put its first three batters on base in the home half of the 13th to set up a game-tying, two-RBI single with no outs. Two St. Thomas errors ensued while a bases load, hit by pitch ended the game.
Preseason Headlines
• Freshmen Dylan O'Connell (3B) and Nolan Kemp (RHP) were named the St. Thomas Player and Pitcher to Watch, as released in the 2023 Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• St. Thomas was selected to finish fifth in the Summit Preseason Poll.
• Dylan O'Connell was named the 2023 Preseason Summit League Freshman of the Year by D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game.
• Ben Vujovich was named to the 2023 Preseason Summit League All-Conference Team by Perfect Game.
A Look Back at 2022
• St. Thomas comes off a 16-29 overall record during the 2022 season, finishing fifth in the Summit League with a 10-14 record.
• The Tommies return 25 student-athletes from the 2022 roster and bring in 12 newcomers.
• The Tommies lost 16 games by one or two runs in 2022.
• St. Thomas earned notable wins over the 2022 Summit League Regular Season Champions North Dakota State, 6-0 on April 9 in St. Paul, Minn., and the Summit League Tournament Champions Oral Roberts, 4-3 on May 7 in Tulsa, Okla.
• In 2022 the Tommies ranked eighth in the nation with 208 earned runs allowed, tied for 20th with 10.27 K/9 Innings, tied for 34th with 8.42 H/9 Innings, tied for 52nd with a .974 fielding percentage, and tied for 82nd with an ERA of 4.90.
• The Tommies set a program record with 438 total strikeouts and in K/9 (10.27).
• St. Thomas garnered two player of the week and two pitcher of the week honors from the Summit League last season. Among the returners, Kolby Gartner was named the Pitcher of the Week once, Sam Kulesa the Player of the Week once and Brigs Richartz the Player of the Week once.
Leading the Pack
• Chris Olean begins his 14th season with St. Thomas in 2023. He has totaled an overall record of 355-189-1 (338-148-1 in NCAA Division III) since being named the head coach prior to the 2010 season.
• Olean is a three-time NCAA DIII Region Coach of the Year and closed out its DIII era by winning championships in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and region en route to a national runner-up finish and 37-10 record.
• During the last 12 DIII seasons the Purple won eight MIAC Championships, capped by third-place national finishes in both 2012 and 2014, in addition to the runner-up finish in 2021.
• Olean mentored seven DIII All-American pitchers. He was voted MIAC and Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2012, 2013, and 2021. In addition, Olean works with the Tommie pitching staff, which was a perennial top-10 group in DIII baseball.
Follow Along
For more information on St. Thomas Baseball, follow along on Twitter at @tommiebase and Instagram at @tommiebaseball
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