St. Thomas baseball’s 7-6 loss to the University of Minnesota soured junior outfielder Brig Richartz’s ninth career homer at Siebert Field Tuesday night.
The Tommies (14-17, 9-5 Summit) and the Gophers (17-18, 4-8 Big Ten) each put five different pitchers in the game, which went to two extra frames. After a four-run third inning and one more score in the fourth, St. Thomas’ offense was shut out. The Gophers came back slowly inning by inning.
“I think realistically, we were right there the whole time, had plenty of chances to win it late, just didn’t get the big hit,” coach Chris Olean said.
The only “big hit” of the game for St. Thomas came earlier in the third inning when Richartz, already up 3-0, sent first-year pitcher Kyle Remington’s ball over the right field fence.
Olean credits the pitchers for not allowing the Gophers to have a scoring explosion. The fourth inning was Minnesota’s only inning with more than one run.
“Pitchers did a really nice job in terms of limiting damage. There really wasn’t any huge innings, so we were able to stick around most of the time, which is kind of the goal of the game,” Olean said.
Junior relief pitcher Bryce Leedle entered the game in the ninth inning and threw three straight strikeouts to stall the Gopher comeback.
Minnesota ended the game when sophomore Drew Berkland pinch-hit in the lead-off spot and hit a triple. Leedle then hit the next man up in the face before the final batter walked it off with a base hit.
“We’ve got to figure out who we have left to pitch. That’s the first thing,” Olean said.
This game puts St. Thomas in a tight spot. The team is reaching the end of their bullpen and needs their ace throwing arms for three conference games against Northern Colorado over the weekend.
Olean predicts this is going to make for a lot of runs on Wednesday night.
“I think it’s going to be a high-scoring game. They’re on the back end of their arms, we’re on the back end of our arms, so it’s going to be who lasts the longest tomorrow,” Olean said.
Olean said he is glad to be able to knock out two away games just a short drive up the road, especially late into the season.
“We’re going to have a total of somewhere between nine and 11 home games all year, out of 50-some,” Olean said. “So that gives us a chance, even if this is a road game, the guys get to go home, sleep in bed, not miss class. It’s very nice to be able to play these guys literally five minutes away on a bus, so we’ll do it as many times as we can.”
These two games against the Gophers break up Summit League play, in which the Tommies sit atop the standings despite being picked last in the preseason poll.
Olean says the team’s unexpected success can be attributed to the team developing earlier than expected.
“Our first year of scholarship kids are now juniors, and so they’ve been through it, and they’re starting to show how they can play as they get a little bit more time,” Olean said. “So in terms of what the plan was, and what we’re trying to do, we’re kind of on schedule. I mean, if anything, I think we’re a little ahead of schedule right now.”
The team knows that sitting atop the conference in April doesn’t guarantee anything down the road.
“We’ve got a lot of year left. Winning the conference is not something we’re presuming is going to happen. We’ve got to get through all these guys again, and you know, play well,” Olean said.
The Tommies will play the Gophers again at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Siebert Field.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.