University of St. Thomas Athletics
Freshman Avery Wukawitz (20) had four hits and five RBI to lead Wednesday's 12-10 win over the Wisconsin Badgers
Gene's Blog: Golf, Softball enjoying their cases of spring fever
4/13/2023 1:50:00 PM | Men's Golf, Softball, Gene's Blog
St. Thomas is now in month 21 of Division I athletics over two school years. A variety of fun "firsts" are being accomplished each season.
Two current spring sports could make a case for recording the best eight-day run of results by any Tommie D-I team.
Men's Golf just won two tournaments in an eight-day span, the second and third team victories of the school year by the team. The Purple topped a 10-team field April 3-4 in Illinois, then ruled an eight-team field April 10-11 in Nebraska.
In Illinois, Coach Matt Rachey's squad was tied with South Dakota after 36 holes but pulled away over the final 18 to win by six strokes. This week in Nebraska, the Toms trailed Omaha by two strokes after 36 holes but held off Northern Iowa by one shot and Omaha by three for the gold trophy.
The Tommies' 293.5 season stroke average ranks fourth of 10 teams in the conference. They play again this Saturday and Sunday in the Hawkeye Invite in Iowa City, then close the season April 30 and May 1-2 in the Summit League tournament. The Iowa City event will include 12 other teams including conference opponents South Dakota State, Kansas City and Western Illinois, plus Power Five teams Iowa, Iowa State and Kansas.
Softball is in the midst of 6-1 record over a six-day span capped by Wednesday's 12-10 road win at Wisconsin for a split of a doubleheader. In six wins over Western Illinois, UW-Green Bay and the Badgers, Coach Jen Trotter's team outscored opponents, 45-12. There was a 24-inning scoreless streak to start that surge by the Tommie pitchers.
The five-game win streak to start that stretch is the longest by any Tommie women's team so far in the D-I era. That also was the first St. Thomas women's team to defeat a Power Five team in a head-to-head sport.
Softball also had a group of junior and senior athletes share in their third unique milestone win of their college careers. Last Friday, Trotter won her 700th game as a head coach in the sweep over Western Illinois. Those same Tommie upper class players contributed to a pair of milestone wins in spring 2021 on separate dates when former skipper John Tschida captured his 1,000th career coaching victory and also his 800th St. Thomas win.
Sophomore Brooke Ellestad has recorded 98 hits and 53 RBI in 81 career games, including 21 multi-hit games.
Re-Cycle
Tommie Baseball sophomore Brigs Richartz hit for the cycle in a 4-for-6 day at the plate in last Friday's 21-9 conference win at Northern Colorado. It was Richartz' second career four-hit game. He singled in the first inning, homered in the third inning, tripled in the fifth inning, then doubled in the sixth inning.
Richartz is the first Tommie to hit for the cycle in Chris Olean's 14-year era as head coach. That feat was especially hard to pull off during the D-III era with so many seven-inning games, where even getting four or more plate appearance was rare.
Going back 25 seasons, we couldn't find another Tommie Baseball cycle in a quick look at archives. The last known St. Thomas player to do it was current UST Athletic Hall of Famer Tony Fischer. He homered, tripled, doubled and singled in a Florida spring trip against Allegheny in 1996.
It's estimated that major-league baseball sees just two players hit for the cycle each season.
Richartz comes into this weekend's conference series with NDSU with 72 hits in 67 career games.
More Diamond Chatter
Yes, Division I pitching is pretty good. Fifth-year senior Charlie Bartholomew is the lone Tommie in the two-season D-I era batting over .300 (.303).
Fourteen of the Toms' 18 losses this season have come against teams with winning records.
St. Thomas is set to play North Dakota State at home this Friday and Saturday. Believe it or not, the mid-April date is not the latest on-campus home opener for the Purple. Back in 2018, an April snowstorm blew up the schedule and the Toms didn't get to play on campus until May. 1. The Tommies were especially strong at home during the last 25 years of their D-III era. Last season, the Purple went 10-6 in neutral-site and on-campus games but had just a 6-23 record on the road.
Prior to last Sunday's 7-5 comeback win at Northern Colorado, the Purple were 0-28 in D-I era nine-inning games when trailing after eight innings. St. Thomas scored four times in the top of the ninth inning to erase a 5-3 deficit using two singles, a hit batter, a passed ball and two errors in the go-ahead surge.
St. Thomas has had a few seventh- and eighth-inning surges and comebacks in the D-I era, but few in the ninth inning. Once last season, St. Thomas tied Creighton with a ninth-inning run before losing in 15 innings. In the 2021 run to a Division III national runner-up finish, St. Thomas proved to be a dangerous late-inning team. That Olean-led squad won 11 of its first 14 postseason games with seven comeback wins and two other walk-off victories in an eventual 37-10 finish.
Track Talk
If a goal is to get the St. Thomas name out beyond our Minnesota borders, Tommie Track and Field is doing its part this weekend. Coaches Pete Wareham and Ashley Lucas have athletes competing in Long Beach, Los Angeles and Azusa, Calif., as well as Des Moines and Decorah, Iowa, and nearby in Arden Hills.
Grad student Christian Beamer cleared a personal best 6-9 1-2 to win last Friday's high jump at UST's Tomcat Invite. That's the best jump by a Tommie in 12 seasons and the No. 5 high jump all-time for St. Thomas men. It also ranks No. 2 early this season on the conference outdoor list. A Two Harbors, Minn., native, Beamer cleared 6-9 in his D-III career at St. Mary's University.
Another Tommie grad student and St. Mary's alum, Anna Swanson, will look to break the program record in the javelin this spring. Swanson has thrown 139-9 here in her only meet so far, but has surpassed 150 feet at SMU, where she was a Division III national runner-up.
Senior James Klecker came out this spring from the football team to throw the javelin, and immediately has shown potential. In his only meet so far April 2 at Wartburg, he threw 167-0, a mark that ranks sixth in the conference so far.
Net Gains
Marthe Degeorges takes a 9-5 record at No. 1 singles into Sunday's final match of the season at Western Illinois. That's the best record by a Tommie at first singles in six years.
Summit League women's tennis teams have a combined record of 54-89, with 19 defeats by 4-3 scores. The Tommies have a league-high seven of those 4-3 losses.
Tee to Green
Tommie Women's Golf has made dramatic gains this season. In 2021-22, St. Thomas posted a 334 stroke average per meet and placed ninth out of nine teams in the conference tournament. Coach Katie Hanneman's second D-I team has dropped 26 strokes off that average for 18 holes down to 308. In this week's Omaha tourney, St. Thomas topped conference opponents Omaha, North Dakota and Western Illinois.
Balance has been a key for the Men's Golf run of success this season. Just one stroke separates the per-round average of the team's top four players. In the last three tournaments, covering nine 18-hole rounds, Will Frazier has scored 657 to lead the team, a 73.0 average, with Matthew Armstrong at 659, a 73.2 clip.
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Two current spring sports could make a case for recording the best eight-day run of results by any Tommie D-I team.
Men's Golf just won two tournaments in an eight-day span, the second and third team victories of the school year by the team. The Purple topped a 10-team field April 3-4 in Illinois, then ruled an eight-team field April 10-11 in Nebraska.
In Illinois, Coach Matt Rachey's squad was tied with South Dakota after 36 holes but pulled away over the final 18 to win by six strokes. This week in Nebraska, the Toms trailed Omaha by two strokes after 36 holes but held off Northern Iowa by one shot and Omaha by three for the gold trophy.
The Tommies' 293.5 season stroke average ranks fourth of 10 teams in the conference. They play again this Saturday and Sunday in the Hawkeye Invite in Iowa City, then close the season April 30 and May 1-2 in the Summit League tournament. The Iowa City event will include 12 other teams including conference opponents South Dakota State, Kansas City and Western Illinois, plus Power Five teams Iowa, Iowa State and Kansas.
Softball is in the midst of 6-1 record over a six-day span capped by Wednesday's 12-10 road win at Wisconsin for a split of a doubleheader. In six wins over Western Illinois, UW-Green Bay and the Badgers, Coach Jen Trotter's team outscored opponents, 45-12. There was a 24-inning scoreless streak to start that surge by the Tommie pitchers.
The five-game win streak to start that stretch is the longest by any Tommie women's team so far in the D-I era. That also was the first St. Thomas women's team to defeat a Power Five team in a head-to-head sport.
Softball also had a group of junior and senior athletes share in their third unique milestone win of their college careers. Last Friday, Trotter won her 700th game as a head coach in the sweep over Western Illinois. Those same Tommie upper class players contributed to a pair of milestone wins in spring 2021 on separate dates when former skipper John Tschida captured his 1,000th career coaching victory and also his 800th St. Thomas win.
Sophomore Brooke Ellestad has recorded 98 hits and 53 RBI in 81 career games, including 21 multi-hit games.
Re-Cycle
Tommie Baseball sophomore Brigs Richartz hit for the cycle in a 4-for-6 day at the plate in last Friday's 21-9 conference win at Northern Colorado. It was Richartz' second career four-hit game. He singled in the first inning, homered in the third inning, tripled in the fifth inning, then doubled in the sixth inning.
Richartz is the first Tommie to hit for the cycle in Chris Olean's 14-year era as head coach. That feat was especially hard to pull off during the D-III era with so many seven-inning games, where even getting four or more plate appearance was rare.
Going back 25 seasons, we couldn't find another Tommie Baseball cycle in a quick look at archives. The last known St. Thomas player to do it was current UST Athletic Hall of Famer Tony Fischer. He homered, tripled, doubled and singled in a Florida spring trip against Allegheny in 1996.
It's estimated that major-league baseball sees just two players hit for the cycle each season.
Richartz comes into this weekend's conference series with NDSU with 72 hits in 67 career games.
More Diamond Chatter
Yes, Division I pitching is pretty good. Fifth-year senior Charlie Bartholomew is the lone Tommie in the two-season D-I era batting over .300 (.303).
Fourteen of the Toms' 18 losses this season have come against teams with winning records.
St. Thomas is set to play North Dakota State at home this Friday and Saturday. Believe it or not, the mid-April date is not the latest on-campus home opener for the Purple. Back in 2018, an April snowstorm blew up the schedule and the Toms didn't get to play on campus until May. 1. The Tommies were especially strong at home during the last 25 years of their D-III era. Last season, the Purple went 10-6 in neutral-site and on-campus games but had just a 6-23 record on the road.
Prior to last Sunday's 7-5 comeback win at Northern Colorado, the Purple were 0-28 in D-I era nine-inning games when trailing after eight innings. St. Thomas scored four times in the top of the ninth inning to erase a 5-3 deficit using two singles, a hit batter, a passed ball and two errors in the go-ahead surge.
St. Thomas has had a few seventh- and eighth-inning surges and comebacks in the D-I era, but few in the ninth inning. Once last season, St. Thomas tied Creighton with a ninth-inning run before losing in 15 innings. In the 2021 run to a Division III national runner-up finish, St. Thomas proved to be a dangerous late-inning team. That Olean-led squad won 11 of its first 14 postseason games with seven comeback wins and two other walk-off victories in an eventual 37-10 finish.
Track Talk
If a goal is to get the St. Thomas name out beyond our Minnesota borders, Tommie Track and Field is doing its part this weekend. Coaches Pete Wareham and Ashley Lucas have athletes competing in Long Beach, Los Angeles and Azusa, Calif., as well as Des Moines and Decorah, Iowa, and nearby in Arden Hills.
Grad student Christian Beamer cleared a personal best 6-9 1-2 to win last Friday's high jump at UST's Tomcat Invite. That's the best jump by a Tommie in 12 seasons and the No. 5 high jump all-time for St. Thomas men. It also ranks No. 2 early this season on the conference outdoor list. A Two Harbors, Minn., native, Beamer cleared 6-9 in his D-III career at St. Mary's University.
Another Tommie grad student and St. Mary's alum, Anna Swanson, will look to break the program record in the javelin this spring. Swanson has thrown 139-9 here in her only meet so far, but has surpassed 150 feet at SMU, where she was a Division III national runner-up.
Senior James Klecker came out this spring from the football team to throw the javelin, and immediately has shown potential. In his only meet so far April 2 at Wartburg, he threw 167-0, a mark that ranks sixth in the conference so far.
Net Gains
Marthe Degeorges takes a 9-5 record at No. 1 singles into Sunday's final match of the season at Western Illinois. That's the best record by a Tommie at first singles in six years.
Summit League women's tennis teams have a combined record of 54-89, with 19 defeats by 4-3 scores. The Tommies have a league-high seven of those 4-3 losses.
Tee to Green
Tommie Women's Golf has made dramatic gains this season. In 2021-22, St. Thomas posted a 334 stroke average per meet and placed ninth out of nine teams in the conference tournament. Coach Katie Hanneman's second D-I team has dropped 26 strokes off that average for 18 holes down to 308. In this week's Omaha tourney, St. Thomas topped conference opponents Omaha, North Dakota and Western Illinois.
Balance has been a key for the Men's Golf run of success this season. Just one stroke separates the per-round average of the team's top four players. In the last three tournaments, covering nine 18-hole rounds, Will Frazier has scored 657 to lead the team, a 73.0 average, with Matthew Armstrong at 659, a 73.2 clip.
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Gene's Blog is a sports column penned by Tommie sports information director Gene McGivern. Gene is working his 29th season at St. Thomas and 35th overall with Twin Cities college athletics teams. He blogs periodically on various topics regarding the Tommies and college sports.
If you have comments or questions, e-mail Gene at ejmcgivern@stthomas.edu
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