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#1 seed St. Thomas (29-8, 16-4 MIAC)

  • In the NCAA D-III statistics through May 5, the Tommies are second in team ERA (2.12)... Individually, senior Mike Moran is 43rd in batting average (.436); junior Riley Bosch is tied for 25th in saves (five); and in ERA, freshman Dan Leslie is 24th (1.55) and freshman Erik Olson is 13th (1.34)... St. Thomas has won 18 of its last 21 and 29 of its last 35 games... senior Sean Young has 123 hits, 103 RBI, 23 HRs and 33 walks in 154 games... In his last 27 games, Moran is batting .470 (38-of-82)to lead the Toms to a 23-5 record in that stretch. He's had 20 RBI, 24 runs, 15 doubles, two triples, two homers, seven walks and five stolen bases in those games.
  • No. 28-ranked St. Thomas (29-8 overall, 16-4 MIAC) became the first program in 86 seasons of MIAC baseball to win four consecutive conference titles. The 2006 Toms went 8-2 at home and 8-2 on the road and edged St. Olaf by one game. They're in the conference playoffs for the seventh time in the seven-year history of the event and are the top seed for the fourth year in a row. UST has won five of the six MIAC playoff tournaments held and have an 11-1 Friday record in this event.
  • St. Thomas lowered its ERA to 2.12 on the season and posted a 1.58 ERA in 20 MIAC games. The Toms allowed just 36 runs in 20 games -- possibly a conference record since the MIAC went to a 20-game schedule in 1984. UST has allowed two or fewer runs in 17 of its last 23 games. The Toms' first eight pitchers have a 2.00 ERA.
  • Five of the Toms' eight losses have come in extra innings or by one run... St. Thomas is 128-13 vs. MIAC foes in baseball and softball over the last three seasons (72-3 softball, 56-10 baseball), including a 15-0 postseason run... Catchers Zach Goldberg and Matt Pexa have thrown out foes nearly half the time on steals (16 of 35 gunned down), while UST has stolen 81% of the time (47-of-58)... In MIAC 20-game stats, Nick Bellmont made one error in 71 chances at second base, Mike Kimlinger made only four errors in 74 chances at shortstop, Sean Young made one error in 169 chances at first, Zach Goldberg had one error in 70 chances at catcher and Matt Pexa has two errors in 70 chances at catcher... Kimlinger had a hit, run or RBI in 17 of 20 MIAC games... Young led the conference in HRs with five and also had seven multi-hit games in the conference.
    St. Thomas has won either the MIAC regular-season or post-season baseball title in each of the last 11 seasons. The last two seasons it swept both... In 2005, St. Thomas went 17-3 to win the conference race by four games -- the second largest winning margin in MIAC baseball history. In the regional tournament, UST lost to eventual national champion UW-Whitewater 7-4 and lost 2-0 to UW-Stevens Point and closed the season 30-12.
  • Now in his 29th season as a head baseball coach, Dennis Denning has reached 789 wins at Cretin-Derham Hall (378) and St. Thomas (411). He coached his 500th game March 19 in Florida. Under Denning, the Toms are 411-120 overall with 30-win seasons seven of the last eight years. Denning's teams are 200-40 in MIAC regular-season games and 215-44 in all games vs. conference foes. In 120 regular-season conference doubleheaders under Denning, St. Thomas has swept 83 twinbills, and has been swept itself just three times. Denning has guided UST to an amazing 47-24 postseason record (45-18 since 1998).
  • The Toms dropped to 28th in the latest ABCA Division III Coaches' poll released May 2. They are ranked fourth in the region behind St. Scholastica, St. Olaf and UW-Whitewater... UST started the season 17th and were as high as 10th.
  • In 30-game stats thus far, Moran is batting .436 (48-of-110); Matt Pexa is batting .415 (34-of-82); Darrin Hubbard is hitting .419 (13-for-31); Louie Salmen is hitting .419 (13-for-31); Sean Young is batting .337 (32-for-95); Chris Bullis is batting .403 (27-of-67); Eric Bloom is batting .375 (27-for-72); Zach Goldberg is batting .323 (21-for-65); Chris Carino is batting .355 (22-for-62); Mike Kimlinger is batting .314 (38-of-121); Matt Stengel is batting .289 (11-for-38); Nick Bellmont is batting .271 (19-for-70); and Jordan Roering is hitting .270 (24-for-89)... UST is batting .334 as a team, with 13 players at .270 or above, with 88 extra-base hits and averaging nearly 10 hits a game.
  • In 31-game pitching stats, UST has a 2.12 ERA with 228 strikeouts and 82 walks in 271.2 innings and just three home runs allowed. Foes are batting just .230. In their last 23 games (19-4 record), eight different Tommie starters have a compiled a 1.25 ERA... The Toms are led by freshmen Dan Leslie and Erik Olson... Leslie, the Class AAA state Player of the Year and the Twin Cities Metro Player of the Year in 2005 at Henry Sibley High, is 6-2 with a 1.55 ERA, including shutouts of Gustavus and St. John's and wins over No. 1 ranked Wooster and No. 5 St. Scholastica. As a starter, he's 6-1 with an 1.39 ERA and 45 strikeouts and 10 walks in 51 innings... Olson, of DePere, Wis., is 4-2 with a 1.34 ERA with 27 Ks and only three walks in 47 innings. Olson threw six shutout innings in his last outing to beat Hamline -- he allowed three hits and no walks with three strikeouts and extended his scoreless streak to 22.1 innings... Pitching for the first time in 22 days, sophomore RHP Lonnie Robinson set a school single-game strikeout record April 10 with 15 in a 3-1, nine-inning victory over Northwestern. Robinson allowed just three hits, two walks and one run and threw out a runner at home on a squeeze play with the score tied 0-0 in the eighth inning. Robinson pitched 4 1-3 innings and got the win in a 3-1 victory over St. John's April 22, then had a complete-gae win over Macalester May 3. He improved to 7-0 on his career... In 38 career appearances, junior RHP Riley Bosch is 6-6 with a 2.83 ERA and 110 Ks in 127 innings. Bosch had a 2.69 ERA last season with no runs allowed in 12.3 postseason innings... sophomore RHP Chris Bullis is 7-1 with 48 strikeouts and 16 walks on his career. Bullis had 13 strikeouts and no walks over his last 20 innings of 2005, including a 1.82 ERA in two postseason games... two senior lefties have pitched well -- Dan Rasmussen (Career: 18 appearances, 3.20 ERA, 6-2) and Ryan Naughton (Career: 38 appearances, 3.40 ERA, 4-5).
  • The Toms' infield is solid with four senior returners -- Young, Bellmont and Kimlinger from first to shortstop, and catcher Goldberg. Kimlinger has 167 hits, 115 runs and 85 RBI in 152 career games. Bellmont has 70 hits and 35 RBI in 109 career games. Goldberg has 68 hits and 47 runs in 113 career games... Senior Eric Bloom (61 hits in 88 career games) is a DH and utility player... Moran (career: 101 hits, 70 runs, 67 RBI), Roering (112 hits, six HRs in 119 career games) and Hubbard (32 hits in last two seasons) can play outfield or DH... Moran hit .295 last season, and in his last 19 games of 2005 had five HRs, 20 hits, 18 RBI and 20 runs... Roering hit .358 last season with 42 hits, 34 runs, 30 RBI, 10 doubles and four HRs in 41 games... Young had only one error in 119 defensive chances in 2005.

#2 seed St. Olaf (26-8, 15-5 MIAC)

  • Todd Mathison (Fy, Northfield, Minn.) became the first pitcher in the MIAC recordbook to finish the season without giving up an earned run with a qualifying amount of innings (31 1/3 innings). Mathison was 5-0 in MIAC play and 7-0 overall with a 0.87 ERA.
  • No. 19 St. Olaf (26-8, 15-5 MIAC) finished second in the regular season and qualified for their seventh straight MIAC tournament. St. Olaf plays third-seeded Gustavus Adophus College at 3:30 p.m. on Friday in Northfield, Minn.
  • St. Olaf has finished in the top three in the league the last 11 seasons with three championships, five second place and three third place finishes.

 

#3 seed Gustavus Adolphus (28-11, 14-6 MIAC)

  • With Monday’s sweep of Buena Vista, Gustavus improved its overall record to 28-11. This year’s win total is second only to the 29 wins recorded during the 2004 season.
  • Gustavus has won 17 of its last 20 games, outscoring its opponents by an average of 4.2 runs per game during that stretch. The team batting average has also climbed from .283 to .335 in that time.
  • Freshman Mike DesLauriers had a 13-game hitting streak stopped when he went 0-for-3 during game one against Buena Vista. DesLauriers started a new streak in game two, going 2-for-4.
  • Gustavus is 3-4 all-time and is making its third appearance in the field. The Gusties fell to St. Thomas in the 2004 championship game.
  • Gustavus is 2-4 this season against this year's MIAC Tournament field, splitting doubleheaders on the road with Hamline (5-3 and 0-8) and St. Olaf (0-11 and 6-1), while being swept at home by St. Thomas (0-6 and 2-3 in 11 innings) during the first week of conference play.

 

#4 seed Hamline (25-13, 13-7 MIAC)

  • The Piper baseball team made history by becoming the first team to make the MIAC playoffs. The Pipers enter the playoffs with an overall record of 25-13, 13-7 in the MIAC.
  • The team also set the single-season win record last week by earning their 22nd win of the season against St. Mary's.
  • Sophomore Andrew Bennett had an outstanding first game against Concordia on Saturday. Bennett went 4-4 at the plate with two home runs. He also drove in seven of the team's 11 runs. Bennett currently leads the MIAC in RBIs with 42.