The St. Thomas baseball team honors coach Chris Olean for his 400th win Saturday against Northern Colorado. The Tommies won 5-3. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
Tommie senior pitcher Walker Retz launches the ball to Northern Colorado. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
Tommie senior outfielder Ben Vujovich tries to steal a base against Northern Colorado. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest)
Tommie baseball secured its fourth consecutive conference series win with a 5-3 victory over the University of Northern Colorado Saturday afternoon at Koch Diamond.
This season, the Tommies sit in first place in the Summit League with a 9-1 conference record. The bats are a major part of the team’s success. The Tommies lead the Summit League in hits, runs and runs batted in while striking out the least among the six teams. St. Thomas is the only team in the conference with a batting average over .300.
“It’s kind of a veteran group. We’ve got a lot of guys that are back, and they just have a lot of experience and know what they’re doing,” coach Chris Olean said. “They don’t show a lot of panic, continue to show up and put up at-bats together.”
The veteran presence was evident in the box score. Senior outfielder Joe Voss bunted a run in with the game tied 3-3 in the sixth inning. Voss padded the Tommies’ lead to 5-3 with a double in the eighth inning. Senior outfielder Ben Vujovich, junior infielder Joe Roder and sophomore infielder Matthew Maulik each pushed a run across.
The Tommies struggled earlier in the ballgame and allowed a pair of runs in the first two innings. The offense was quiet before the sixth-inning spark, only mustering three hits and a run.
“A lot of (the players) were just getting mad,” Olean said. “They finally just put their foot down and decided they want to score some runs. Obviously would have liked a little quicker start, but (senior pitcher Walker Retz) did a good job, kept us there.”
Retz recorded his longest outing of the season, pitching seven innings in 105 throws. In every start this year, Retz has completed at least five innings and sports the third-best conference ERA with 3.86.
St. Thomas dominates the individual batting category in the Summit League. Three Tommies are among the top four in runs batted in. Sophomore infielder Tanner Recchio is second in the conference with 39 hits and first with 31 runs. He also owns a .382 average.
Graduate catcher Max Moris’ 27 RBIs ranks third in the team. The backstopper usually bats among the top four spots in the Tommies batting order, as he is one of the most productive hitters. However, Olean says his impact is beyond his slash line. Moris controls and navigates games with the Tommies pitching staff, and his defensive presence excels behind the plate.
“He’s a really smart baseball guy … he thinks the game well. He’s a fifth-year, so he’s been around a long time. I was telling him, ‘At some point you’re gonna make a hell of a coach,’” Olean said. “And if you’re a pitcher out there, nothing gets by him, right? He blocks everything. He throws a lot of guys out. People don’t like to run on him, so there’s a comfort level when you’re pitching.”
In Saturday’s game, Moris backed his coaches’ confidence. The catcher nabbed a runner with a one-hop throw to second base. Moris has nine caught-stealings in the season, tied for second in the Summit League.
A windy afternoon could not stop Olean from winning his 400th game as head coach. In 2024, Olean guided the team to a 16-10 conference record and its first Summit League title.
Olean pitched for St. Thomas in the late 1990s and set modern school records with 246 strikeouts. Olean was inducted into the St. Thomas Hall of Fame in 2004.
“Well the wins are harder to come by at this level than they were at D-III,” Olean said. “I mean, for me, 400 is really more of a reflection of, No. 1, longevity, right? … And I’ve been fortunate enough to be at St. Thomas the whole time.”
St. Thomas will finish the weekend series against Northern Colorado on April 6. First pitch is scheduled at 1 p.m.
Juan Del Valle can be reached at delv9625@stthomas.edu.
