University of St. Thomas Athletics

Baseball Overview

Program Overview

Tommie Baseball

  • 2 NCAA Division III championships (2001, 2009)
  • 3 NCAA D-III runner-up finishes (1999, 2000, 2021)
  • 21 NCAA playoff appearances in last 26 years of D-III era
  • 19 MIAC championships in last 25 years as a member
  • 19 of a possible 20 MIAC playoff appearances, 10 playoff titles
  • 20 All-America honors in the last 24 years of D-III era
  • 5 CoSIDA Academic All-America honors
  • 14 MIAC Player or Pitcher of the Year honors in last 22 years of D-III era
  • 2 National Coach of the Year honors
  • 1 National Pitcher of the Year honor
  • 2 National D-III ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove honors (2009, 2021)
  • Coach Chris Olean has 354 wins (348 in 12 full seasons), and starts his 14th season in fall 2022
 

University of St. Thomas Baseball has a tradition of excellence and success. The roots of Tommie Baseball can be traced to the founding of the university in 1885 when baseball became the first official team on campus as an intramural sport. Originally the Tommies were called the "Blues" and "Grays" until 1899 when Purple was first listed on a roster as a school color.

In fall 2021 St. Thomas became the first institution to make a direct move in all sports from NCAA D-III into D-I athletics.

Tommie Baseball is one of 18 sports that compete in the Summit League. St. Thomas teams also compete in the Pioneer Football League; the WCHA women’s hockey league; and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for men’s hockey. 

Chris Olean starts his 14th year as the head coach of St. Thomas baseball in 2022-23. He established himself among the top coaches in Division III with a 338-149-1 record (.693 win %) and seven of a possible 11 MIAC championships. Olean coached five D-III All-America pitchers in his 12-year era as a Division III head coach. He was voted conference and Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2012.

The Tommies practice and play on campus at Koch Diamond. A new FieldTurf infield, batting cages and other improvements were added in summer 2017.

St. Thomas Baseball competed well in its inaugural Division I season of 2022. Despite taking 16 losses by one or two runs, the Tommies finished 16-29 and placed fifth out of seven teams in the Summit League. St. Thomas closed the season 12-12 in its last 24 games. That included a 3-0 sweep with three comeback wins over Omaha to wrap the season. Omaha went on to place second in the conference playoff tournament.

The Purple came into the Division I era riding a remarkable 2021 season which included:

  • Conference and regional titles and an NCAA runner-up finish 
  • A 37-10 final record and No. 2 ranking in the final national poll
  • An 11-5 postseason run that included seven comeback wins and two other walk-off victories
  • Wins in 23 of their last 26 games in a 2-0 record at the College World Series against No. 1-ranked Washington (Mo.)
  • Having the Conference Pitcher of the Year in senior Graham Laubscher and one of only nine D-III Gold Glove defensive honorees in redshirt freshman Sam Kulesa
  • All with a young roster with 10 true or redshirt freshmen starting or contributing



More Division III Era

After joining the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in 1920, the Tommies won a league-best 37 regular-season championships -- twice as many as the next school on the conference baseball title list through 2021. The Toms also captured 10 of the 20 MIAC tournament titles contested since the format began in 2000.

St. Thomas reached the NCAA D-III Regional playoffs 22 times, including 21 trips in their last 26 seasons in Division III. The Tommies won seven regional crowns and advanced to seven NCAA College World Series. They claimed the national title in 2001 and 2009; took second in 1999, 2000, and 2021; and placed third in 2012 and 2014.

The Tommies' 77 all-time NCAA playoff victories rank in the top 10 among all 350 Division III programs.

St. Thomas earned one of the best records in all of college baseball during their last 27 D-III seasons, winning 65 percent of its games (860-306) over that span, an average of 32 wins per full season. In the last 22 seasons alone, the Tommies had seven top-three NCAA finishes. St. Thomas won 12 consecutive regular season titles from 2003-2014. In 2013, the Tommies won the 20-game conference race by eight games, finishing at 19-1 (11-9 runner up finish). That’s the largest margin of victory in any sport in conference -- and possibly Division III -- history.

From 1996-2021, St. Thomas won 29 of a possible 42 conference regular-season and playoff titles. In that time, the Tommies earned the second most NCAA playoff berths among all 360 Division III programs.

Chris Olean will enter his 13th year as the head coach of St. Thomas baseball in 2021-22. He established himself among the top coaches in Division III with a 338-149-1 record (.693 win %) and seven MIAC championships in his first 12 seasons. Olean coached five D-III All-America pitchers in his 12-year era as a Division III head coach. He was voted conference and Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2012.

Olean was a nine-year assistant coach at St. Thomas under legendary coach Dennis Denning, who retired in February of 2010. Olean was a key member of Denning's staff that guided St. Thomas to NCAA Division III championships in 2001 and 2009, along with an unprecedented seven straight MIAC conference titles from 2003-2009. Olean was inducted into the University of St. Thomas Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.

Olean took over after Denning's 2010 retirement. The 2001 Division III National Coach of the Year, Denning coached his 1,000th game in his 30-year prep and college coaching career at St. Thomas in 2007. His 32-year career included 17 years at St. Paul’s Cretin Derham Hall High School (379-76 W-L record) and 15 with the Tommies (522-157 W-L record). He was inducted into the Minnesota State High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005 and College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. Denning’s teams captured 11 of a possible 15 MIAC regular-season championships and also won the postseason tournament seven of its first 10 years.

Under Denning, the Toms were 280-63 (.816) in all games vs. conference foes. That included 150 regular-season conference doubleheaders (250-50 record) in which St. Thomas swept 104 twinbills, split 42 and were swept just four times. Denning’s 522-157 overall record ranked him first in NCAA Division III among active coaches with a .769 winning percentage upon his retirement. St. Thomas qualified for the NCAA playoffs in 14 of 15 seasons under Denning and reached the region finals seven times. St. Thomas’ 72-36 postseason record in his era included an impressive 16-6 record in four appearances in the College World Series. 

The 2001, Tommies were ranked No. 1 in the nation and came into May with a 27-4 record. A 2-4 finish to the conference season dropped St. Thomas to third in the final MIAC standings. St. Thomas caught fire and won the MIAC postseason tournament, then went 7-2 in the NCAA playoffs. Their 8-4 victory over Marietta (Ohio) on May 29 captured the school's first NCAA baseball title. Two-time All-American Jake Mauer and was drafted in the 23rd round by the Minnesota Twins. Mauer retired in 2006 due to injuries after five pro seasons where he reached Class AA. He was a coach and manager in the Twins' minor-league organization until his 2017 retirement.

 

 

The Koch Diamond

On Saturday April 22, 2006, St. Thomas Baseball program opened Koch Diamond on campus. Between games of a doubleheader against MIAC archrival St. John's, a ceremony took place honoring baseball alumnus David Koch, whose major gift covered the cost of the $300,000 Koch Diamond project, which included 150 new bleacher seats and state-of-the-art FieldTurf infield. Koch, a 1952 St. Thomas graduate in business administration, is the former CEO of Graco Industries of Minneapolis, a worldwide industry specializing in fluid handling systems and components. Koch was named Distinguished UST Alumnus in 1981 and chaired the university’s Century II Capital campaign in the 1980s. The campaign raised $83 million after starting with a goal of $35 million. 

Koch, a standout pitcher with the Tommies, was a tremendous all-around athlete who received a football scholarship to Notre Dame. He played on the Irish’s 1949 national championship team that finished 10-0. One of his close friends was teammate Leon Hart, who is one of just two linemen ever to win the Heisman Trophy. Koch returned to Minnesota and finished his college degree at St. Thomas.

The Koch Diamond is flanked by two residence halls Morrison Hall, opened in 1998, and Flynn Hall, opened in 2005. The turf allows for more flexibility in March and early April when snow and rain often postpone opponents’ games and practices. There are only two cutouts in the artificial turf – the pitching mound and home plate. A long-term goal is to turf the outfield, which would further enhance the facility for campus-wide use by St. Thomas intramurals, PE classes and recreation. The Tommies had a Division III-best 54-game home winning streak at the Koch Diamond end on March 30, 2015.

Other Recent Success 

In 2009, Tommies pitchers recorded a 2.12 ERA in 12 NCAA playoff games and helped the Tommies go 6-0 in elimination games at regionals and nationals. Under Olean, St. Thomas pitchers have led the conference in ERA in eight of his nine seasons, and finished in the top 10 in ERA in the country in four of nine seasons. Olean has also coached two pitchers who have gone on to play professionally along with five All-America pitchers. 

Olean led the 2010 Tommies to a 35-9 record, highlighted by a sweep of the MIAC regular-season and playoff championships. Seven one-run losses – including a 12-inning loss to Big Ten champion Minnesota and two close defeats in the NCAA regional playoffs -- kept the Toms from having even better results. In 2011, the Tommies finished with a 28-18 record and again reached the NCAA regional playoffs. One of the highlights of the 2011 season was the Tommies 8-3 upset win over Minnesota. The conference co-champions had six players named to the 2011 ABCA All-Midwest Region Baseball team.

The 2010 Tommies ranked third nationally in fielding percentage after it ranked first in both 2008 and 2009. The Tommies' 2010 staff had a 2.41 ERA -- the lowest among all NCAA teams in Divisions I, II, III. 

St. Thomas came into 2012 unranked but used a mix of returners and four transfers to finish third in the nation with as 41-10 record. The Toms started the conference season 18-0 and closed 19-1 to tie an MIAC record for baseball wins. UST, which played into the final day of the eight-team, double-elimination national tournament, went 17-1 in games decided by one or two runs.

The 2014 Tommies (39-9) finished No. 3 in the final 2014 Division III poll. They won the program’s 12th consecutive MIAC championship and also claimed the conference playoff title, winning 21 of 23 games against MIAC opposition. UST started May with a 14-game win streak, including a 4-0 record at regionals. Tommie baseball made its deep postseason run without injured Tyler Peterson, a consensus All-America and the conference Player of the Year. Before the 2014 season, just nine conference athletes in baseball had recorded 200 or more career hits. St. Thomas added three players to that list -- Tim Kuzniar (fourth, 225), J.D. Dorgan (eighth, 205) and Ben Podobinski (ninth, 202), with Podo doing it in just 133 games over three seasons.