The St. Thomas men’s basketball team was recognized for winning the Division III national championship during the Minnesota Twins pregame show Tuesday evening at Target Field.

All St. Thomas team members had their names announced over the loud speaker, and senior captain Tyler Nicolai had the honor of throwing the first pitch.

“I’m nervous. I’m just going to try to hit the glove,” Nicolai said before throwing the first pitch.

The event was a new experience for many of the players.

“This is unbelievable,” junior Tommy Hannon said. “I’ve never been down on a baseball field like this before. It’s unreal.”

Sophomore John Nance agreed, and said it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“I probably won’t have a chance to do this ever again,” Nance said.

Gene McGivern, St. Thomas sports information director, said the Twins invited the St. Thomas basketball team to be part of the pregame show.

“They (the Twins) are always trying to get different community groups recognized,” McGivern said.

This public recognition accompanies a series of events for the players involving celebrations, banners and championship rings.

“There’s just a lot of cool things that happen over time when you win nationals,” McGivern said.

One of these “cool things” was having the opportunity to meet and talk with former Twins Tony Oliva and Paul Molitor, who’s in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

Senior Teddy Archer said the event also gave the team the opportunity to spend time with each other.

“I love it, just being with the guys [who] accomplished our goal and won us a national championship,” Archer said.

The team was invited to stay and watch the game against the Kansas City Royals, which went 10 innings with a 4-3 Twins win.

“Throwing the pitch was awesome, and now we just get to all hang out and have fun,” Nicolai said.

Jacqueline Destache contributed to this story.

Cynthia Johnson can be reached at john3175@stthomas.edu.