05/26/06

Senior third baseman Luke Olin and junior pitcher Mark Moriarty were named to the 2006 NCAA Division III All-Midwest Region Baseball Team Wednesday afternoon, leading a parade of five Saints onto the squad.

Olin and Moriarty were named to the All-Midwest First Team, junior second baseman Brandon Swartz and junior Keith Ritsche were both named Second Team all-region, and freshman pitcher Adian Kummet earned Third Team honors.

Moriarty (9-2, 1.83 ERA), the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Pitcher of the Year, led the Saints in victories and strikeouts (105) this season. His strikeout total ranks second on the Saints' single-season strikeout list, headed by Ben Sickler's 113 from the 1996 season. Moriarty, third in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings this season, was also the National Colle­giate Baseball Writers Association's National D-III Pitcher of the Week the opening week of the 2006 season.

Olin finished his career for the Saints this year with his best season. He hit a career-best .389 and led the team in hits (58), runs (51), RBI's (40), total bases (109), slugging percentage (.732), on-base percentage (.486), and stolen bases (20). Of his team-leading 30 extra-base hits, 15 were triples which led the nation and set a new NCAA D-III single-season mark.

Ritsche, the UMAC Player of the Year, was a double-threat for the Saints with a career-best .393 batting average when at the plate and a 6-2 record (2.73 ERA) on the mound for St. Scholastica. His 35 strikeouts was a new season-high for the junior.

Also having a career year, Swartz led the Saints in batting with a .395 average and his 35 RBI's were second only to Olin. Swartz was also 14-of-15 in stolen base attempts this season nearly surpassing his career total of 16 steals coming into the 2006 season.

The UMAC Rookie of the Year, Kummet was one of only four freshmen to earn a spot on the 50-member region squad. He finished the season 6-0 and led the Saints in ERA with a 0.95 mark and in saves with three.

Each of the five all-region honorees were All-UMAC selections for the confer­ence champion Saints who this season qualified for their second consecutive NCAA National Tournament with a Midwest Region bid where they defeated eventual Region champion UW-Stevens Point in the tourney's opening game.