Baseball has 11 players get various postseason honors

June 11, 2009

St. Thomas' 2009 NCAA champion baseball team had 11 players and one coach receive various postseason honors at the national, regional and conference level.

Coach Dennis Denning was named ABCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year after he guided the Tommies to the College World Series for the fourth time in 11 years. Denning is one of eight coaches on the national ballot for ABCA National Coach of the Year, an honor he won in 2001. Denning and Wooster coach Tim Pettorini appear to be the top two candidates for that award, which will be announced in July. Pettorini has a 877-321-6 record over 27 seasons and is a five-time region Coach of the Year recipient yet has never received National Coach of the Year honors. Denning surpassed 500 wins this April and now has a 524-157 record. In his 15 seasons with the Tommies, his teams have won 11 MIAC regular-season titles and finished second three times. In the postseason, Denning's Toms have captured seven of 10 MIAC tourney crowns, as well as four region championships and two national titles.

Junior RHP Matt Schuld made All-American honors (ABCA first team, D3Baseball.com third team), and was named Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year by the ABCA. He also was named to the 27-man All-MIAC team. Schuld, who named to the College World Series and Midwest Regional All-Tournament teams, has a 3.70 gpa and also made CoSIDA Academic All-America -- one of only four D-III players to make both All-America and Academic All-America. In five career NCAA playoff games, Schuld is 3-1 with a 1.95 ERA, including two NCAA elimination-game wins in 2009 on short rest. Schuld, who pitched just twice as a freshman after suffering a broken foot in Florida, is 19-3 in 25 career starts. He finished 12-1 overall this season to break a 22-year-old school record for seasons victories. He closed 9-0 this season vs. nationally- or regionally ranked Wooster, Chapman, St. Scholastica, St. Olaf, UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh. He also beat Division I Minnesota as he allowed three runs in six innings of a 6-3 win. Opposing batters hit just .234 off Schuld.

Senior OF-DH Brian Schmitz made first-team All-Midwest Region and first team All-MIAC. Schmitz also made the Midwest Region all-tournament team. In 12 NCAA playoff games in May, the senior had 11 hits, 10 RBI and eight walks. On the season he led the Tommies in walks (21), doubles (16), HRs (five), sac flies (seven) and slugging percentage (.545) and had no errors in 37 outfield chances. His huge grand slam in NCAA playoff opener vs. UW-Stevens Point rallied Toms from 3-0 mid-game deficit. He capped a rare career double of playing on state champion team at Lakeville North High and an NCAA title team with Toms.

 

Junior SS Roy Larson made third-team All-Midwest Region and first-team All-MIAC, and also made the nine-man Midwest Region Gold Glove team as the top defensive player at his position in the region. Larson finished first or second on team in total bases (95), RBI (45), hits (66), runs (40), extra-base hits (18) and walks (17). He has 105 hits in 113 career games. In 20 May games the junior shortstop had 24 hits, 20 RBI and 16 runs. He drove in tying run in sixth inning of the NCAA title game, and had three hits in an earlier 6-4 win over Wooster.

 

Sophomore CF Matt McQuillan made third-team All-Midwest Region and was named to the College World Series All-Tournament team. McQuillan hit safely in 24 of UST's last 26 games, and also has hit safely in 17 of 19 career postseason games. The Toms went 13-0 in May when McQuillan scored a run. He batted .400 (10-of-25) with three walks, a HBP and four steals in six games at nationals. He had one error in 115 defensive chances this season and chased down several balls to save hits. In all games he led UST in on-base% (.449), runs (45) and steals (16) and shared the UST lead in hits (66). On his two-year career, he has 98 hits in 92 games.

 

Junior OF Matt Olson was named the Most Outstanding Player at the College World Series and made the College World Series and Midwest Regional All-Tournament teams. Olson reached base in his last 41 games of the season and led the Tommies in hitting in the NCAA playoff run. He scored six of the Toms' 12 runs in the three elimination games at nationals. In 20 May games he scored 23 runs, had 14 RBI and batted .427 (29-for-68). Olson went 0-for-7 at the plate in the first four games of the season, and was a platoon player in March and April. But he emerged as the Toms' most consistent player and was named the College World Series' Most Outstanding Player as he went 11-for-22 with 11 runs in six games at nationals. He had no errors in 80 defensive chances this season. Olson had the league's second-best batting average in MIAC play at .485 but played in only 13 games and wasn't nominated for all-conference.

 

Senior 3B-P Dan Leslie was named to Division III's nine-man Gold Glove team as the nation's top defensive third baseman. Leslie also made the College World Series and Midwest Regional All-Tournament teams. The senior, who had excellent range and a strong arm, also had two clutch NCAA playoff pitching performances in his first mound starts since May 2007. He drove in the winning run with a 12th-inning walk-off single in the NCAA title game. Leslie had 103 hits in 94 games over his last two seasons. He had no errors in the last nine NCAA playoff games, covering 24 chances. Leslie previously made All-MIAC and All-Midwest Region as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

 

Senior second baseman Louie Salmen made first-team All-MIAC and was chosen for the nine-man Midwest Region Gold Glove team as the top defensive player at his position in the region. The senior had just three errors in 227 chances this season and only 12 errors in 631 career chances at second base. Salmen went 7-for-20 with three sacrifice bunts in six games at nationals, and drove in a run with a squeeze bunt in Tuesday's first 6-4 elimination game vs. Wooster. In 36 career postseason games he had 35 hits and 21 runs. He had a clutch two-run home run to beat St. Olaf in April to give Denning his 500th victory.

 

Junior RHP Brandon Stone made the College World Series All-Tournament team. One of Division III's surprise players of 2009, Stone pitched briefly for D-II Minnesota-Duluth as a freshman. He transferred and worked just six innings for the Tommies 2008, then emerged as UST's No. 2 starter most of this season. He finished 3-2 with a 2.39 ERA, 48 Ks and 13 walks. He missed the NCAA regional with soreness in his arm. He retired all four batters he faced in a save vs. Minnesota; retired all three batters he faced for a save vs. Augsburg; and retired six of the seven batters he faced for a save in a May 9 conference playoff win over St. Olaf. After a 15-day layoff, he retired 20 of 23 batters with no walks to win the NCAA championship game over Wooster. Stone is likely the first Division III pitcher ever to win a national title game and record a save against a Big Ten Conference team in a four-week stretch.

 

Sophomore DH-OF Taylor Rahm made the Midwest Region All-Tournament team and was named region tourney MVP. In 13 May games, Rahm had 15 hits, 10 runs, eight RBI, two HRs, two doubles, four walks and two HBP and batted .454. His walk-off HR in the 17th inning beat UW-Stevens Point in the NCAA regional opener, and his three-run homer helped win a key elimination game vs. St. Olaf. On the season, Rahm played in 24 games and had seven multi-hit games. He batted .330, had a .406 on-base percentage and a .489 slugging percentage.

 

Freshman RHP John Licht made the College World Series and Midwest Regional All-Tournament teams. In two NCAA elimination games fresh off Tommie defeats, Licht threw nine-inning complete-game wins to eliminate UW-Stevens Point (6-0) and Carthage (3-1). Licht allowed one run, 11 hits, one walk and had 15 strikeouts in 18 innings. He finished his first college season 6-2 with a 3.66 ERA. In 47 innings this season he struck out 33 and walked only seven.

 

 

Sophomore catcher Ben Wartman was named to the CoSIDA second team Academic All-District 5 team. An All-Region running back with 1,311 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns last fall in football, Wartman has a 3.85 gpa. This spring he batted .244 with 22 hits, 17 runs, 12 RBI seven doubles, six walks and four HBP in 40 games. He had two hits and threw out two runners trying to steal in the NCAA title game vs. Wooster. He had only one error -- a catcher's interference call -- in 180 defensive chances, and UST was 21-5 in games he started. He had a three-run homer in the last inning to tie an April game vs. St. Olaf.