University of St. Thomas Athletics
Saturday, April 29
St. Paul, Minn.
12:00 p.m. Central
vs
Omaha
Photo by: Collin Boyles
Baseball begins multi-week homestand April 28-30 versus Omaha
4/27/2023 12:07:00 PM | Baseball
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. Thomas Baseball begins a 10-game homestand April 28-30 with a three-game series against Omaha.
The Tommies and Mavericks open the series at 3 p.m. Friday followed by start times of 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at Koch Diamond.
Live video will be available HERE with live stats available HERE.
The Last Time Out
• A three-run second inning gave St. Thomas Baseball an early lead Wednesday night before a 9-4 loss to Minnesota at Siebert Field
• A one-out walk and Minnesota error in the second inning put two runners on base for the bottom batters in the Tommie lineup. Matthew Enck and Sam Kulesa came up with back-to-back RBI singles to even scoring, 2-2, before Dylan O'Connell started the top of the order with an RBI fielder's choice. A fielding error on the play allowed Enck to score the go-ahead run.
• Minnesota followed in the bottom of the second frame with six runs on just two hits, four walks, and a hit by pitch to lead for the rest of the way.
• O'Connell tripled with two outs in the top of the fourth inning for his lone hit of the game. Ben Vujovich tacked on the final Tommies run of the game on an RBI single to second base, extending his hitting streak to a team-high four games.
• Bryce Leedle (0-1) took the loss throwing 1.1 innings while Jeremy Klick, Owen Marsh, and Jacob Mrosko each threw in relief. Marsh went 3.1 innings with a career high five strikeouts.
Next Up for the Tommies
• St. Thomas welcomes the Summit League conference opponent University of Nebraska Omaha to Koch Diamond for their second home series of the year in a late season pursuit to climb up the league rankings.
• The Mavericks are led by the duo of Mike Boeve and Devin Hurdle, who are the lone UNO players batting over .400 on the year. Boeve leads the team in batting average (.433), runs (26), hits (45), doubles (9) and RBI's (21). Hurdle has a batting average of .409 with 38 hits, 15 runs, and 18 RBIs on the year.
• The pitching staff is led by starters Preston Tenney and Caleb Riedel. The duo has combined for 16 starts on the year with Tenney throwing 2 complete games on the season and Riedel leading the team with 52 strikeouts thrown to only nine batters walked.
• Omaha started off the season losing their first six games before beating Fresno State in a 1-0 win. When Summit League play began for the Mavericks, they lost all three games in a series versus NDSU before sweeping Northern Colorado. The next two conference series UNO lost all six games in series versus top ranked opponents Oral Roberts and SDSU. Omaha is coming into the game looking to bounce back from a 3-6 defeat against Nebraska.
Fresh Esch
• Sophomore Evan Esch was named the TicketSmarter Summit League Peak Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career following his start Saturday, April 15 against North Dakota State.
• Esch went 6.0 innings during his longest outing of the season, not allowing any runs during his fourth start of the season. He finished with five strikeouts, tying a season-high, and allowed just two hits and two walks.
• The weekly award is the first of Esch's career, who has made eight appearances on the mound in 2023 and made 14 with eight starts as a freshman. It also marks the first weekly honor by a Tommie this season.
• Esch followed up with another stellar outing Monday, April 24 at South Dakota State, tossing a career-high 11 strikeouts in another 6.0-inning performance. He held the Jackrabbits to one hit and retired 13 straight batters between the second and sixth innings. After allowing his only run, Esch struck out the side in the first inning on his way to striking out eight of the first nine batters faced.
• Esch leads all active Tommies with 85 career strikeouts during the Division I era. Walker Retz follows with 66 while Duke Coborn and Kolby Gartner each have 62.
Summit League Ranks (As of 4/27/23)
Team
Earned Run Average (5th/7.40)
Fielding Percentage (5th/.960)
Opp. Batting Average (6th/.298)
Individual - Pitching
Earned Run Average (E. Esch - 5th/4.41)
Opp. Batting Average (E. Esch 6th/.219, K. Gartner - 8th/.238)
Individual - Hitting
Batting Average (J. Roder - 14th/.305, C. Bartholomew - 19th/.293)
Hits (B. Richartz - t-30th/32)
On-Base % (J. Roder - 28th/.369) OPS (T. Marsh - 30th/.260)
Stolen Bases (D. O'Connell - t-24th/4)
Individual - Fielding
Putouts (C. Bartholomew - t-11th/169) Assists (M. Enck - 7th/66)
Fielding % (M. Moris-t-18th/.982)
Caught Stealing (C. Bartholomew - t-4th/9, M. Moris - 6th/7)
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 a team-best 12 straight games before being denied a 13th in the series finale at Oral Roberts.
• He leads the team with 32 hits, 15 runs, and 41 total bases. Richartz has led off six games with a base hit and eight games by reaching base. He has hit third during 13 of the last 14 games and 15 times overall this season.
• Richartz led off the season with a six-game hitting streak, including two multi-hit games.
• Richartz recorded the program's first cycle since 1996 in game one at Northern Colorado. He singled in the first inning to drive in one RBI, homered with one runner on base in the third inning, tripled in the fifth inning and doubled in the sixth inning.
Bringing the Lumber
• Freshman Ben Taxdahl recorded two home runs during the South Dakota State series, bringing his season total to a team-best three.
• Both of his long balls came during the fourth inning against the Jackrabbits, while two of his home runs were three-run shots.
• No other Tommie has more than one home run this season.
Hitting 21
• The Tommies scored a season-high 21 runs during the series opener April 7 at
Northern Colorado, which is also the first time the program has topped 20 runs in a game since joining NCAA Division I. The Toms' 21 runs are the most for the team since totaling 21 against Macalaster in 2016 and 22 against Macalaster in 2015.
• St. Thomas tallied a season-high 19 hits and scored in every inning of the game. All but one starter recorded a hit and an RBI, and all but two totaled multiple hits.
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.
Leading the Pack
• Chris Olean begins his 14th season with St. Thomas in 2023. He has totaled an overall record of 359-197-1 (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 and Instagram at @tommiebase
-- St. Thomas Athletics --
The Tommies and Mavericks open the series at 3 p.m. Friday followed by start times of 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at Koch Diamond.
Live video will be available HERE with live stats available HERE.
The Last Time Out
• A three-run second inning gave St. Thomas Baseball an early lead Wednesday night before a 9-4 loss to Minnesota at Siebert Field
• A one-out walk and Minnesota error in the second inning put two runners on base for the bottom batters in the Tommie lineup. Matthew Enck and Sam Kulesa came up with back-to-back RBI singles to even scoring, 2-2, before Dylan O'Connell started the top of the order with an RBI fielder's choice. A fielding error on the play allowed Enck to score the go-ahead run.
• Minnesota followed in the bottom of the second frame with six runs on just two hits, four walks, and a hit by pitch to lead for the rest of the way.
• O'Connell tripled with two outs in the top of the fourth inning for his lone hit of the game. Ben Vujovich tacked on the final Tommies run of the game on an RBI single to second base, extending his hitting streak to a team-high four games.
• Bryce Leedle (0-1) took the loss throwing 1.1 innings while Jeremy Klick, Owen Marsh, and Jacob Mrosko each threw in relief. Marsh went 3.1 innings with a career high five strikeouts.
Next Up for the Tommies
• St. Thomas welcomes the Summit League conference opponent University of Nebraska Omaha to Koch Diamond for their second home series of the year in a late season pursuit to climb up the league rankings.
• The Mavericks are led by the duo of Mike Boeve and Devin Hurdle, who are the lone UNO players batting over .400 on the year. Boeve leads the team in batting average (.433), runs (26), hits (45), doubles (9) and RBI's (21). Hurdle has a batting average of .409 with 38 hits, 15 runs, and 18 RBIs on the year.
• The pitching staff is led by starters Preston Tenney and Caleb Riedel. The duo has combined for 16 starts on the year with Tenney throwing 2 complete games on the season and Riedel leading the team with 52 strikeouts thrown to only nine batters walked.
• Omaha started off the season losing their first six games before beating Fresno State in a 1-0 win. When Summit League play began for the Mavericks, they lost all three games in a series versus NDSU before sweeping Northern Colorado. The next two conference series UNO lost all six games in series versus top ranked opponents Oral Roberts and SDSU. Omaha is coming into the game looking to bounce back from a 3-6 defeat against Nebraska.
Fresh Esch
• Sophomore Evan Esch was named the TicketSmarter Summit League Peak Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career following his start Saturday, April 15 against North Dakota State.
• Esch went 6.0 innings during his longest outing of the season, not allowing any runs during his fourth start of the season. He finished with five strikeouts, tying a season-high, and allowed just two hits and two walks.
• The weekly award is the first of Esch's career, who has made eight appearances on the mound in 2023 and made 14 with eight starts as a freshman. It also marks the first weekly honor by a Tommie this season.
• Esch followed up with another stellar outing Monday, April 24 at South Dakota State, tossing a career-high 11 strikeouts in another 6.0-inning performance. He held the Jackrabbits to one hit and retired 13 straight batters between the second and sixth innings. After allowing his only run, Esch struck out the side in the first inning on his way to striking out eight of the first nine batters faced.
• Esch leads all active Tommies with 85 career strikeouts during the Division I era. Walker Retz follows with 66 while Duke Coborn and Kolby Gartner each have 62.
Summit League Ranks (As of 4/27/23)
Team
Earned Run Average (5th/7.40)
Fielding Percentage (5th/.960)
Opp. Batting Average (6th/.298)
Individual - Pitching
Earned Run Average (E. Esch - 5th/4.41)
Opp. Batting Average (E. Esch 6th/.219, K. Gartner - 8th/.238)
Individual - Hitting
Batting Average (J. Roder - 14th/.305, C. Bartholomew - 19th/.293)
Hits (B. Richartz - t-30th/32)
On-Base % (J. Roder - 28th/.369) OPS (T. Marsh - 30th/.260)
Stolen Bases (D. O'Connell - t-24th/4)
Individual - Fielding
Putouts (C. Bartholomew - t-11th/169) Assists (M. Enck - 7th/66)
Fielding % (M. Moris-t-18th/.982)
Caught Stealing (C. Bartholomew - t-4th/9, M. Moris - 6th/7)
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 a team-best 12 straight games before being denied a 13th in the series finale at Oral Roberts.
• He leads the team with 32 hits, 15 runs, and 41 total bases. Richartz has led off six games with a base hit and eight games by reaching base. He has hit third during 13 of the last 14 games and 15 times overall this season.
• Richartz led off the season with a six-game hitting streak, including two multi-hit games.
• Richartz recorded the program's first cycle since 1996 in game one at Northern Colorado. He singled in the first inning to drive in one RBI, homered with one runner on base in the third inning, tripled in the fifth inning and doubled in the sixth inning.
Bringing the Lumber
• Freshman Ben Taxdahl recorded two home runs during the South Dakota State series, bringing his season total to a team-best three.
• Both of his long balls came during the fourth inning against the Jackrabbits, while two of his home runs were three-run shots.
• No other Tommie has more than one home run this season.
Hitting 21
• The Tommies scored a season-high 21 runs during the series opener April 7 at
Northern Colorado, which is also the first time the program has topped 20 runs in a game since joining NCAA Division I. The Toms' 21 runs are the most for the team since totaling 21 against Macalaster in 2016 and 22 against Macalaster in 2015.
• St. Thomas tallied a season-high 19 hits and scored in every inning of the game. All but one starter recorded a hit and an RBI, and all but two totaled multiple hits.
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.
Leading the Pack
• Chris Olean begins his 14th season with St. Thomas in 2023. He has totaled an overall record of 359-197-1 (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 and Instagram at @tommiebase
-- St. Thomas Athletics --
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