St. Thomas baseball snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 15-3 blowout win over Omaha in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader after dropping game one 12-2.
The Tommies came into the 2026 season with high expectations after coming off winning back-to-back Summit League championships. This season, the Tommies have started off slow with a 5-20 overall and 2-5 record in Summit League play.
“It’s just really important to get out to a lead early in games,” coach Chris Olean said. “We’ve been kind of chasing the entire year, and then that shows in the results we’ve had early on.”
Tommie baseball finally played at home after its Friday game was postponed due to cold weather. Saturday’s game was played in 38-degree weather, but the shadows of Morrisson and Flynn Halls kept the fans in the stands from feeling any warming sunshine.
In game one, St. Thomas fell behind early and never recovered. Junior pitcher Brayden Olson allowed two runs in the third after Omaha loaded the bases, then ran into more trouble in the fourth as the Mavericks extended their lead to 4-0.
The Tommies showed a bit of life with solo home runs from senior first baseman Joe Roder and graduate designated hitter Chris Knowles, but Omaha continued to pile on, including a three-run homer by junior catcher Cardel Dick in the sixth to stretch the lead to 10-1. The Mavericks closed out the game in eight innings due to the NCAA DI 10-run rule, winning 12-2.
After the blowout loss, Olean said there wasn’t really anything to say to the team.
“I told them this is about us just turning the page and playing better,” Olean said. “A lot of those guys came back for the ring ceremony from last year’s team and they chatted a bit. I think it got them in a good headspace for the next game.”
St. Thomas responded quickly in game two. First-year pitcher Owen Marsolek set the tone, while the offense jumped ahead early with an RBI single from junior outfielder Owen Bond in the first inning.
The Tommies broke the game open in the second inning when junior infielder Matthew Maulik launched a three-run home run to make it 4-0.
After Omaha cut the lead to 4-2 in the third, St. Thomas answered with a huge inning, capitalizing on multiple errors and extra-base hits, including a bases-clearing triple from Roder and a home run from Bond to take a commanding 10-2 lead.
“(Marsolek) was just kind of putting his foot down when they got guys on base,” Olean said. “He allowed the guys to kind of take a breath and relax and then the runs just started to come.”
Omaha brought in senior pitcher Brayden Curtis, who held the Tommies scoreless for two innings before being relieved by sophomore Carter Boos.
St. Thomas quickly took advantage of the new pitcher in the sixth. A single, hit-by-pitch, and walk loaded the bases, causing another pitching change as junior Cole Kenyon entered for Omaha.
Freshman designated hitter Evan Raabe came in to pinch hit for Knowles and delivered a two-RBI single, followed by a two-run triple from junior outfielder Easton Fritcher to extend the Tommies’ lead to 15-3.
Olean said he believed that’s what the Tommies offense is capable of.
“We always kind of had a comfortable lead in the game,” Olean said. “The guys never had to be in that grind mode, so we were able to just continue to relax and hit.”
Marsolek closed out the game with a strikeout in the seventh, finishing with three earned runs and seven strikeouts to secure the win and snap the seven-game losing streak.
“(Marsolek) competes better than nearly anyone else on the team and always seems to find a way through it,” Olean said. “We had a 10 run lead, I told him he was over 100 (pitches), he was like ‘I’m finishing the game’, and I trusted him to go do it.”
Reagan Boschulte can be reached at bosc3829@stthomas.edu.
