A Plymouth native and 2006 Robbinsdale Armstroing graduate, Schuld pitched well this summer in 11 relief appearances for the Twins' Gulf Coast League Rookie team. He compiled a 2-0 record, with one save and a 2.57 ERA with 17 strikeouts and three walks in 20 innings. He has a 1.26 ERA in his last seven appearances, all since July 14.

Schuld wasn't taken in the 50 rounds of the June amateur draft but later signed a free-agent contract with the Twins.

Schuld is the first Tommie since Jake Mauer in 2001 to sign with a major-league organization. In recent years a few Tommies have signed free-agent deals with the independent Northern League, including pitchers Lonnie Robinson, Brian Whinnery and Brandon Stone.

Schuld, who led the 2009 Tommies to the NCAA Division III championship, finished his college career with a 30-5 record to become the conference career wins leader. He closed with 239 strikeouts in 264 innings to finish third in UST history behind Dick Washburn (263 from 1963-66) and Olean (246 from 1996-99). He closed with a 2.93 ERA in 44 career appearances, with seven shutouts.

Clutch pitcher

Schuld was a two-time All-American and in 2010 was named D3Baseball.com's National Pitcher of the Year. He was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2010. Over the last two seasons, he was named National Pitcher of the Week three times and MIAC Pitcher of the Week five times.

A Finance and Management major who graduated with a 3.70 grade-point average, Schuld was also a two-time Academic All-American and was named the 2010 College Division Baseball Academic All-American of the Year as the top achiever among 34 honorees.

Schuld was especially effective in the clutch. He went 7-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 10 career postseason games, including a 3-0 record in elimination games. In the lone loss, he pitched into the 10th inning in the 2008 NCAA playoffs in a game that was tied 1-1 through nine innings. He also started and pitched 12 innings in a no-decision against UW-Stevens Point in the 2009 NCAA playoffs. He finished 11-1 in May games on his career.

Schuld guided St. Thomas to the 2009 NCAA championship with a 12-1 record, which including four postseason victories. He contributed to UST's four regular-season and three MIAC playoff championship teams in his era.

Schuld was part of a 2010 pitching staff that led all NCAA teams in earned-run average at 2.41 and kept the 35-9 Tommies ranked in the national top 10 all season. He went 10-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 2010, including wins over St. Scholastica, Carthage (twice), Concordia, St. John’s (twice) and Augsburg. He collected a career win or save against nine of the 10 MIAC opponents (he never faced Carleton).

In March 2008, he threw six shutout innings against Trinity (Ct.) and came out of the game in the seventh inning with two runners on base and UST leading 1-0 in an eventual 7-2 loss. Trinity went on to win the NCAA Division III championship with a 45-1 record.

Click here top see Matt Schuld's Twins' Rookie stats by game:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=597251

Schuld, who's 2-0 on the season, lowered his ERA to 2.64 ERA with 17 strikeouts and three walks in 18.1 innings.

Here's a July 30 feature story on Schuld written by Nick Clark from the Minnesota Sun newspapers:

http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2010/08/01/local_sports_update/826rs05schuld.txt

Stone will join the Redhawks for Monday's game with the Kansas City T-Bones. The Redhawks are one game out of first place with 28 games left in the regular season.

Stone broke the St. Thomas record for saves this season with eight. He helped the Tommies win three consecutive MIAC titles and claim the 2009 NCAA championship in his three seasons at UST. He pitched seven scoreless innings in relief in May 2009 to get the pitching win in the 3-2 championship game win over Wooster.

In 2010, along with his eight saves Stone had a 2.11 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 21 innings, and held opponents to a .195 batting clip. In 2009, he had three saves and a 2.39 ERA with 48 strikeouts and 13 walks in 49 innings.

Click here for more information and a sign-up form:

http://alumni.stthomas.edu/s/904/index.aspx?sid=9048gid=1Bpgid=7988cid=1634Becid=1634Bcrid=08calpcid=13Bcalcid=664

Here's a Bulletin Today update, printed July 19, which features some updated construction photos and comments from Ty Stenzel, UST's strength and conditioning coach, on the building's new fitness center:

http://www.stthomas.edu/bulletin/2010/07/19/fitness-director-describes-training-exercise-facilities-in-the-new-anderson-athletic-and-recreation-complex/

Schuld retired all eight batters he faced in relief, including four by strikeout. On the season in seven relief appearances he's 1-0 with a save, two holds and a 3.18 ERA. He has 16 strikeouts with just two walks in 11.1 innings.

The Twins are 9-15 and have 36 games left to play.

Tommiesports.com is fortunate to have a group of talented photographers who traveled to events on and off campus to help tell the story of St. Thomas sports.

UST staff photographers Mike Ekern and Thomas Whisenand, and freelance photog Greg Smith were asked to submit some of their favorite sports images from 2009-2010, and some of those photos appear below.

This is part 3 of a three-part feature and presents spring sports images.

---

You can purchase these and other action photos from St. Thomas athletics here:

Mike Ekern and Thomas Whisenand photos:

http://photostore.stthomas.edu/

Greg Smith photos:

www.gsmithsports.com

 ---

 Spring season

What's a photo gallery without a good steeplechase splash pic? Here's Raynee DeGrio at the MIAC meet. (Greg Smith photo)

Softball's Fantasia Gates-Colbert (Mike Ekern photo)

Laura Janas was a repeat hurdles champion in the MIAC Championships. (Greg Smith photo)

Dennis Denning is gone from the dugout, but not forgotten. (Mike Ekern photo)

Marta Radcliffe throws out an Auggie runner. (Thomas Whisenand photo)

 Baseball team prayer. (Mike Ekern photo)

Alison Bruflodt finished out an excellent career. (Thomas Whisenand photo)

Sophomore Devin Dirth won the MIAC decathlon to help UST claim the team title. (Greg Smith photo)

Dan Cooper battles for men's tennis. (Thomas Whisenand photo)

Freshman Kimmy Hassel looks to bunt vs. Macalester. (Greg Smith photo)

Andy Edmunds placed fifth in the MIAC pole vault. (Greg Smith photo)

Kris Edwards, working here against Big Ten champion Minnesota, had a breakout season on the mound. (Greg Smith photo)

Kylee Crotty was an NCAA runner-up in the javelin. (Greg Smith photo)

Coach John Tschida's softball team went 40-8, after a 2-4 start. Chris Olean's baseball guys finished 35-9, with seven one-run defeats. That combined 75-17 record included 10 one-run losses.

The Tommies' .8152 win % was a hair better than Cortland State's .8131 clip. Among all 996 NCAA institutions, only Division II's North Georgia and Hawaii Pacific had better records than UST.

Since 1999, Tommie softball and baseball teams have won more than 80 percent of their games; won four NCAA championships; had three national runner-up finishes; have won 14 of a possible 17 MIAC playoff titles; and won 18 of a possible 24 MIAC regular-season crowns.

2010 NCAA Best Combined W-L Records, Baseball and Softball

Win% School          Affil.     W-L     SB      Base

.8173 North Georgia     D-II    85-19   51-2    34-17

.8165 Hawaii Pacific    D-II    89-20   50-8    39-12

.8152 St. Thomas  D-III  75-17   40-8    35-9

.8131 Cortland (N.Y.) St.    D-III 80-18-1 40-8    40-10-1

.8082 Birmingham South.  D-III  59-14   34-5    25-9

.7979 Linfield (Ore.)   D-III   79-20   42-7    37-13

.7952  Salisbury (Md.)   D-III   66-17   36-14   30-13

.7805 Arizona State     D-I      96-27  44-17   52-10

Life imitates Art

The numbers are in: America’s most popular diversion this week is “Despicable Me.”

Not the animated film starring the voice of Steve Carell… instead we refer to LeBron James’ just-released autobiography.

It’s tough to be a Cleveland sports fan. Of cities that host at least three teams in the four major pro sports (football, basketball, baseball and hockey), Cleveland (1964) has the longest championship drought. Seattle last won in 1979 (Sonics); the Twin Cities in 1991 (Twins); the Bay Area in 1995 (49ers).

Now this.

On a sweltering July day when the mercury hit 93 in Cleveland, its fans learned that in fact it’s not the humidity. It’s the Heat.

The 2010 year sure has been a disaster for Cleveland sports fans and their guys named Lebron. The Indians’ have a minor leaguer, Steven Lebron, who was hit with a 50-game suspension last spring for steroids. Then the NBA Cavs lost both the Celtics’ playoff series and the LBJ lottery.

Perhaps it was July 4 holiday and a burst of patriotism that prompted LeBron’s decision. His new home base is Miami's American Airlines Center. As he says goodbye to the Cavs’ Quicken Loans Arena, he leaves behind a 42-29 postseason record, all in the last five seasons.

Conspiracy theorists might blame St. Paul’s own Seantrel Henderson. Recall his Feb. 4 announcement on national TV of his plans to sign a football letter of intent with USC. Five months later, things have changed and suddenly Henderson is headed for Miami. Hmm…

James’ 60-minute ESPN show dubbed “The Decision” was brought to you by a company called “Bing.com,” yet you get the feeling it should have been sponsored by “Bling.com.” Another case of style over substance.

LeBron needn’t apologize for signing with Miami. It’s a fresh start and a new challenge in a new environment. He’s even taking less money to make the contracts fit under the salary cap. Winning a ring appears to be his top priority.

But the unnecessary hype surrounding James’ announcement seemed quite insensitive to his hometown fans and his Cavaliers teammates and management. At the least, the 25-year-old James showed immaturity. At worst, he looked selfish and classless.

This seems like another case where an athlete/celebrity/corporation either doesn’t listen to his public relations experts, or he surrounds himself with folks who tell him what he wants to hear instead of what he needs to hear.

Worse yet, ESPN has set (continued?) a bad precedent in celebrity interviews/coverage.

Local TV stations, start your helicopters. Get ready for these lame, overhyped Thursday night theme shows coming to an ESPN platform near you:

--Brett Favre will plan a 61-minute TV show to announce that he's unsure when he will announce whether he will return to the Vikings or retire.

--Angry Cleveland Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert will go on the air and announce that his new power forward wearing jersey No. 23 will be… Betty White. She’s already in town for the sitcom “Hot in Cleveland.” Besides, she showed plenty of grit in the Doritos’ Super Bowl commercial, and drew higher ratings that LeBron in her Saturday Night Live hosting gig.

--John Gagliardi will go on national TV, and for the 19th year in a row, he’ll announce that he won’t be retiring anytime soon as the Johnnies’ football coach.

--David Kahn will announce that at last a talented young Spaniard will join the Wolves to play point guard. Ricky Rubio? Nah, he’s old news. Spain’s man of the hour is soccer’s Andres "Gooooooooooaaaaallllll" Iniesta.

--The Big Ten Conference will tell the nation it will pass on Notre Dame and invite the University of Tokyo to join the league. (Tokyo’s 28 million residents has the Big Ten Network drooling).

--The actors who play high school students in the TV show “Glee” will announce their actual ages (none are under 30).

--The shy Donald Trump will have to be convinced to appear on national TV (sarcasm). The bad news, he’ll bring his son and daughter. The good news, he’ll fire Jim Grey.

--Paul the Octopus will announce that his cousin, St. Paul the Octopus, will start his own prediction service in Minnesota at Como Zoo. St. Paul will be hired as a TV meteorologist. (In the first month he’ll be right more often than the locals have been all year.)

--Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens will drop a bombshell. They’ll take to the ESPN airwaves and neither will say or do anything outrageous.

--David Stern will announce that Miami will play at Cleveland on opening night. The Cavs' fan will serve up more boos than a Delta House toga party.

--LeBron James, Jr., age 5, will announce the school where he’ll attend kindergarten this year.  (Psst… ESPN’s Chris Broussard is already working his sources).

Last week’s LBJ circus produced one interesting development -- the NBA found a way to be relevant in a month other than May and June.

It also clarified three other points:

1) The “E” in ESPN stands for “Entertainment,” but with this story it could stand for “Embarrassing.”

2) Fifteen years ago Art Modell became the town villain when he moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. Thanks to LeBron, Cleveland fans learned once again that life imitates Art.

3) Does anyone else think NCAA Division III sports look more appealing every day?

Wearing jersey number 32, Schuld threw two scoreless innings as the Twins edged the Rays 4-3 in 10 innings. He also had a save against the Orioles

In four relief appearances – all in a 10-day stretch -- Schuld is 1-0 with a save and a 4.50 ERA in six innings. He’s among 17 pitchers on a crowded roster.

Schuld, who signed a free-agent deal in mid June, got a quick taste of the unpredictable nature of pro baseball. In Schuld’s first week with the Twins’ Gulf Coast team, manager Chris Heintz resigned to take an assistant coach job at his alma mater, South Florida. Heintz had taken over for Jake Mauer when he was promoted last winter to manage the Twins’ Class A team in Fort Myers. Heintz was replaced by Ramon Borrego.

Alexi Casilla has played with the team the last two days while on an injury rehab assignment. The GCL Twins also have the organization’s second-round pick in the June draft -- 18-year-old SS Niko Goodrum of Fayetteville, Ga.

Among Schuld’s pitching teammates are St. Cloud State pitcher David Deminsky of Sartell, a 44th-round draft pick; fellow D-III pitcher Brett Carroll of William Paterson, a 42nd round pick; Bart Carter of Western Kentucky, a 39th-round draft pick; 19-year-old righty Tyler Herr of Katy, Tex., who stands 6-foot-8; and 20-year-old righty Nathan Fawbush of Georgia Perimeter College, a 21st-round pick who stands 6-foot-7.

Schuld, who was named Academic All-America as a Business major for St. Thomas, may gain some skills to work in international business. His new team has a strong international flavor. The pitching staff includes Eddie Ahorrio and Richard Calcano (Puerto Rico); Mark Trau (Australia); Luis Nunez (Dominican Republic); Hein Robb (South Africa); plus three pitchers from Venezuela. Those eight pitchers range in age from 18-20.

Field players include four 17-year-olds, OF Max Kepler (Germany); and 3B Miguel Sano, SS Jorge Polanco, and 17-year-old Wander Guille (Domincan Republic); six players age 18-20 in 1B Kennys Vargas and 1B Eddie Rosario (Puerto Rico); 1B Kelvin Silvania (Aruba); Matej Hejma RF (Czech Republic); and 3B Rory Rhodes and C Joshua Hendricks (Australia); and 21-year-olds Frederic Hanvi (France); 3B In Kyun Kang (South Korea), and 21-year-old C Jairo Rodrigeuz (Venezuela).

The prospects come from all backgrounds. The bullpen also includes Treyvone Johnson, 22, a converted catcher. In high school, the Los Angeles native attended a charter school that didn’t have a baseball team. He played in the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif. He played one season of juco baseball at Los Angeles City College on a team that won only two of 40 games. He was drafted by the Twins in round 20 of the 2009 draft.

Tommie flavor

Six Tommie alumni baseball players and current team standout Matt McQuillan have been selected to play on a Minnesota Class A All-Star baseball team that will play a July exhibition game against the Team USA 18-Under National Team.

The group includes Air Freight’s Buzz Hannahan and Brian Whinnery; the Shamrocks’ Sean Lindstrom and Mike Kimlinger; Commanding Edge’s McQuillan; St. Louis Park’s Casey Garven; and Moe’s Ted Pastoors.

PHOTO: Matt McQuillan

Team USA is currently playing five exhibition games in New York before it heads to Minnesota to play nine more exhibition games. The 18-under World Championships begin July 23 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The Team USA 20-man roster includes seven players from California, three from Florida and two each from Texas and Tennessee. The team had hoped to have phenom Bryce Harper on the roster, but the Washington Nationals nixed that idea.

The group includes 6-foot-4 OF/QB Bubba Starling of Gardner, Kan., who recently committed to Nebraska for football and baseball. Starling is expected to be a high draft pick in the 2011 baseball draft. Former UST volleyball player Samantha Lane also hails from Gardner-Edgerton High, which has a four-grade enrollment of 1,200 students.

Another Tommie honor

A fifth Tommie football player has received preseason All-America mention for 2010.

Fifth-year senior safety Bryan Villar becomes the first St. Thomas defensive player recognized. Villar, center Josh Ostrue and RB Ben Wartman were among 26 players recently named D3 Senior Classic North first team All-America. Only seniors are considered for this team.

Kick returner/WR Fritz Waldvogel and tackle Chad Vandergriff, both juniors to be, have also made one of the other Division III’s preseason All-America teams.

PHOTO: Bryan Villar

St. Norbert solid

St. Thomas football will face a tough team in its Sept. 4 season opener at St. Norbert. In the last 10 seasons, the Green Knights built a 91-16 record, won eight Midwest Conference titles and made seven NCAA playoff trips. They have won 22 of their last 24 games at home and will debut a new stadium against UST.

Their only loss in 2009 in a 9-1 finish was 52-24 at Monmouth, the team UST topped in the first round of the playoffs. St. Norbert had seniors in 11 of 24 starting spots last season.  Junior QB Rob Berger passed for 2,036 yards and 20 TDs with only six interceptions, and also rushed for 600 yards and nine TDs. The Green Knights averaged 416 yards and 37.8 points a game and allowed just nine sacks in 10 games.

By comparison, the 2009 Tommies averaged 427 yards and 38.9 points a game in their 11-2 finish and surrendured only three sacks in 13 games.

Calling in the Calvary

Tommie football coach Glenn Caruso and basketball coach Steve Fritz has each attracted an incoming freshman student athlete from Calvary Christian Academy near Fort Lauderdale. Both players wore jersey No. 1 for their respective teams.

Football’s Kyle Whitley was a Class 1A all-stater, while hoops’ point guard Derek Domino made all-county.

The 5-9, 165-pound Whitley had 80 receptions for 1,358 yards, and 16 TDs in 11 games last season.

The 5-10 Domino averaged 10.1 points and 6.1 assists as a senior.

Sevens wild

The above note on UST's Bryan Villar making preseason All-America comes to you today, the seventh day of the seventh month of this year.

Villar wears jersey No. 7.

Last season, Villar led the Tommies in tackles with 77.

The words "Tommies" and "defense" contain seven letters.

Villar's phone number contains seven digits.

His favorite soft drink is Sprite.

(And you thought I was going to say 7-Up).

Schuld said he would sign a contract Thursday at Target Field and report this weekend to Fort Myers, Fla., to join the Rookie League camp.

St. Thomas coach Chris Olean said Schuld likely will eventually be assigned to the Twins' Gulf Coast League Rookie team.

The righthanded Schuld wasn't picked among the 50 rounds of last week's MLB first-year draft but he remained on the Twins' radar.

Minnesota drafted 29 pitchers, although 14 are either college underclassmen or coming out of high school. Several of those prospects may not sign this summer.

"I just wanted a shot, and this seems like a very cool opportunity to be around a diffrerent level of baseball," Schuld said. "The Twins have a model organization, and it's exciting because I grew up rooting for them. After not getting drafted last week, I wasn't optimistic that this chance would come. But the Twins scout talked with me and Coach Denning and Coach Olean on Monday and called back to offer me a chance."

Schuld is the first Tommie since Jake Mauer in 2001 to sign with a major-league organization. In recent years a few Tommies have signed free-agent deals with the independent St. Paul Saints, including pitchers Lonnie Robinson and Brian Whinnery.

"Matt is the best pitcher I've had in my 10 seasons at St. Thomas," Olean said. "He deserved to get drafted, but at least he gets this opportunity. This is a good organization for him because the Twins like college pitchers and they like guys who can get outs. It's a great opportunity for him with his style of pitching."

Schuld, who led the 2009 Tommies to the NCAA Division III championship, finished his college career with a 30-5 record to become the conference career wins leader. He closed with 239 strikeouts in 264 innings to finish third in UST history behind Dick Washburn (263 from 1963-66) and Olean (246 from 1996-99). He closed with a 2.93 ERA in 44 career appearances, with seven shutouts.

Clutch pitcher

Schuld was a two-time All-American and in 2010 was named D3Baseball.com's National Pitcher of the Year. He was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2010. Over the last two seasons, he was named National Pitcher of the Week three times and MIAC Pitcher of the Week five times.

A Finance and Management major who graduated with a 3.70 grade-point average, Schuld was also a two-time Academic All-American and was named the 2010 College Division Baseball Academic All-American of the Year as the top achiever among 34 honorees.

Schuld was especially effective in the clutch. He went 7-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 10 career postseason games, including a 3-0 record in elimination games. In the lone loss, he pitched into the 10th inning in the 2008 NCAA playoffs in a game that was tied 1-1 through nine innings. He also started and pitched 12 innings in a no-decision against UW-Stevens Point in the 2009 NCAA playoffs. He finished 11-1 in May games on his career.

Schuld guided St. Thomas to the 2009 NCAA championship with a 12-1 record, which including four postseason victories. He contributed to UST's four regular-season and three MIAC playoff championship teams in his era.

Schuld was part of a 2010 pitching staff that led all NCAA teams in earned-run average at 2.41 and kept the 35-9 Tommies ranked in the national top 10 all season. He went 10-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 2010, including wins over St. Scholastica, Carthage (twice), Concordia, St. John’s (twice) and Augsburg. He collected a career win or save against nine of the 10 MIAC opponents (he never faced Carleton).

In March 2008, he threw six shutout innings against Trinity (Ct.) and came out of the game in the seventh inning with two runners on base and UST leading 1-0 in an eventual 7-2 loss. Trinity went on to win the NCAA Division III championship with a 45-1 record.

"He's a great leader, he showed he could pitch on short rest and he could get outs when he needed them," Olean said. "If anybody deserves a shot, it's Matt. If the Twins give him a chance, I think they'll really like him."