The Tommie baseball team ended its 2011 season on May 20 the same way it started — with a loss to St. Scholastica. This time the score was 2-1, and it came in the regional NCAA tournament at Whitewater, Wis.
St. Thomas coach Chris Olean said the team changed “immensely” between those two games.
“We looked at our opening day lineup that we had at St. Scholastica verses the lineup we had on the final day,” Olean said. “We didn’t have a single guy in the same position as we did when we started.”
Down by one run in the ninth inning of the finale, the Tommies sent MIAC Player of the Year Tayler Rahm and MIAC Rookie of the Year J.D. Dorgan to the plate but couldn’t get anything going.
“Certainly having those two up gave us a chance, and they did continue to fight,” Olean said, “but the game didn’t have a very good vibe to it.”
The Tommies managed one run on seven hits in the season ending loss. Olean said the inability to create runs “hindered” the team.
“A lot of times it would take us three, four hits to get a run in,” Olean said. “[Next year] I want to play a brand of baseball that can be a little more aggressive, more athletic, where we can steal some bases and do some things.”
After a slow start to the season and a lot of lineup shuffling, Olean led his team to a 28-18 record and an appearance in the NCAA tournament, where the Tommies went 1-2.
“Some of our young guys stepped up and toward the second half some of our seniors came around and started to play well again,” Olean said. “We really came together there in the second half.”
Last start for Edwards
Senior pitcher Kris Edwards gave up two runs over nine innings and took the loss in the final game of his well-traveled college baseball career.
Edwards was cut from the University of Minnesota baseball team as a freshman. He transferred to Whitewater where he blew out his elbow. After Tommy John surgery, he came to St. Thomas with three seasons of eligibility.
“I had to beg and plead with coach Denning at the time to keep him on varsity as a sophomore,” Olean said. “He was the last guy on our varsity team and only threw one inning all season.”
As a senior this year, Edwards was the team’s ace and was named All-MIAC for the second consecutive year. Olean said Edwards should be the “blueprint.”
“You have a guy who’s begging and pleading to be on the team go to being your No. 1 only two years later,” Olean said. “If you put in time, you work and you prove you’re the best guy, you can be the best guy here.”
Olean said the Tommies have a “dynamic” freshman class with 10 to 12 guys who could compete for time on varsity.
“Potential does not always translate to victories,” Olean said. “So we’re really going to get after it here in the fall.”
Alex Keil can be reached at amkeil@stthomas.edu.