Meet a Saint: Senior Captain D.J. Lahti #7

Saint Scholastica Saints senior outfielder and pitcher D.J. Lahti has had quite the career in baseball so far. In high school, D.J. earned three letters in both baseball and basketball at South Shore High School. He also once stuck out 20 batters in one game and hit an amazing .607 his senior year. D.J. also earned first-team all-area honors as a senior. D.J. came to Saint Scholastica out of high school, no doubt with high expectations, mostly because of the fine baseball lineage he comes from. D.J.’s brothers Steve and Jeff Lahti both were standouts on the Saints baseball team and both are currently enshrined in the Saint Scholastica Baseball Hall of Fame. D.J. was also was a member of the 2003 Duluth Huskies of the Northwoods League during their first season in Duluth. The Saints are certainly counting on a big season out of D.J. in 2005 both on the mound and at the plate. But that’s about enough of D.J. the baseball player, what about D.J. the person? Let’s take a closer look.

D.J.’s Favorites
Movie: Major League
Food: Fettuccini Alfredo
MLB Team: Milwaukee Brewers in the regular season, Minnesota Twins in the post season
Baseball Player: Ken Griffey Junior


If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would that be?
Michael Jordan, just because he is amazing. In basketball, not baseball.


What size bat do you swing?
A 33” 30 oz. I have always swung a 33”, even if I had to choke up. I would never swing a 32”.

Chew, Bubble Gum, or Sunflower Seeds?
In that order it would be Bubble Gum, Seeds, and then Chew. Bubble Gum is clutch.

What is your favorite sports moment?
Hitting a walk-off home run against Minot State in the 2003 regional my sophomore year.

Finally, what is your dream date?
(Blushing) I guess I will go with a romantic dinner at Storm’s Den with stimulating conversation.


And if that could be with anyone, who would that be?
Faith Hill, singing would be optional.

Who's Tim McGraw?

Saints Baseball of the Past: 2000

There are now only 12 days until the Saints Scholastica Baseball team opens the season against Buena Vista in the Metrodome. To keep the excitement rolling towards that opening pitch at the home of the Minnesota Twins let’s jump into the CSS Baseball Blog patented time machine and go travel back five years for a look at the 2000 Saint Scholastica Saints season.

The 2000 season was John Baggs’ ninth season as head coach and turned out to be his most successful up to that time. The 2000 season also saw the Saints Baseball program reach a milestone with the program’s 250th win coming on April 1 after a 2-0 victory of UW-Stevens Point in LaCrosse, WI. The Saints entered the 2000 season with high expectations following the 1999 appearance in the NCAA Midwest Regional. They did not disappoint.

The 2000 Saints received many honors including:

NAIA All-America First Team: Justin Harriman
NAIA All-America Second Team: Leland Swenson
NAIA All-America Honorable Mention: Chris LePine and Corey Kemp
NAIA Region 3 Player-of-the-Year: Leland Swenson
NAIA All-Region First Team: Leland Swenson, Justin Harriman, Chris LePine, Corey Kemp
NAIA All-Region Second Team: Greg Young
UMAC Player-of-the-Year: Leland Swenson
UMAC Pitcher-of-the-Year: Corey Kemp
UMAC Rookie-of-the-Year: Nick Bjerken
All-UMAC First Team: Leland Swenson, Justin Harriman, Corey Kemp, Greg Young, Chris LePine, Nick Bjerken, Derek Bilben, Joey Wood
All-UMAC Second Team: Josh Lamppa, Kevin Kuklis, Nathan Ahlberg, Joe Wicklund
Academic All-Americans: Greg Young, Dave Schlangen, Tom Berrisford, Joe Wicklund, Derek Bilben, Nathan Ahlberg, Phil Giesen

The 2000 Saints as a team set many team records including the record for the most wins with 41, highest team batting average with .372, most runs scored with 540, most stolen bases with 137 (broke by the 2001 team), and the best winning percentage with .788. The 2000 Saints also came in second all-time with a .961 fielding percentage and a 3.07 earned run average and third in homeruns with 38. Many individual records were set during the 2000 season Leland Swenson and Chris LePine set the record for hits in a season with 83. Chris LePine also set the record for the most runs scored with 80 and stolen bases with 32. Leland Swenson also set the record for RBIs in a season with 77 and batting average by hitting .464. Two pitching records were also set by the 2000 team. Corey Kemp tied Ben Sickler’s 1996 record with 11 wins and Dan Birkholz set the record for appearances in a season with 15.

The winners of the annual team awards for the 2000 season are as follows:

Tullberg Trophy (MVP): Justin Harriman
Tim Anderson Academic Award: Greg Young
Joe Pearson Blue-Gold Award: Joe Wicklund
Justin Harriman Outstanding Hitter: Justin Harriman
John Giefer Award (Gold Glove): Leland Swenson
Nick Bjerken Rookie of the Year: Nick Bjerken
Ben Sickler Captain Award: Joe Wicklund – Justin Harriman – Chris LePine – Leland Swenson
Corey Kemp Outstanding Pitcher: Corey Kemp
(Inaugural) Lahti Award: Greg Young

The 2000 season ended with the Saints taking home the 2000 NAIA Regional Championship. They entered the tournament on a 20-game win streak and kept rolling into the NAIA tournament. The winning streak got up to 23 in a row before falling to #2 seed and tournament host Briar Cliff University by a score of 18-11. The Saints then went on to beat Briar Cliff by a score of 15-9 in the regional championship elimination game. The Saints then moved on the Super Regional game in which they hosted former national champion Bellevue University at Wade Stadium in Duluth. The opening game of the best-of-three series had 1,420 fans on hand and saw the Saints win the series opener by a score of 13-8 in 10 innings. The Bruins of Bellevue then toppled the Saints in the second game by a score of 14-7, forcing a third and final game. The third game featured a record breaking 1,630 fans on hand, but the Saints fell to Bellevue by a score of 13-4 and sent the Bruins to their fourth straight NAIA World Series and ended the Saints season with a record of 41-11.

Coach Baggs summed up the Saints 2000 season following the tough loss to Bellevue in the Super Regional by saying, “I don’t know what’s harder, seeing the seniors lose this game after all the hard work they’ve put in over the last four years, or knowing that next year I won’t have Justin Harriman catching, and I won’t have Leland Swenson starting at shortstop or Chris LePine in center field – or Joe Wicklund or Josh Lamppa in the pitching rotation. That’s what’s going to be tough. I’ll miss these seniors like no other class.”

Weekly Practice Report: 2/11/05

The Saint Scholastica Saints Baseball team has been hard at work in practice for two weeks now and things are really starting to shape up. The team has been practicing for six days a week for about two hours per session. The team lost six seniors from last years team, that will be hard to replace, but the hard work this year’s team is putting in, is definitely setting them up to succeed. The team does not require time in the weight room, but players very rarely can thrive without it. In fact, former Saints player and team Hall of Famer Greg Young makes strength and weight training programs for the players.

As far as how certain aspects of the 2005 Saints are looking in practice, team captain Kenny Kolquist was able to give some insight. There are no players who are really standing out in practice, but according to Kenny, “(The) pitching staff and hitters are showing early signs of dominance.” That pitching staff is anchored by seniors Jake Eiler, who pitched in the summer for the Madison Mallards of the Northwoods League, D.J. Lahti and sophomore Keith Ritsche. Kenny spoke of the off season work ethic by saying, “It is clear that guys worked hard in the off season so that when it came time to actually start the season up again, we were not starting from square one.”

Sophomore Brandon Swartz echoed Kenny and also added some praise of senior Tom Simonson by saying that, “Simo has been swinging it good, as usual.” Simonson hit .425 last season and is the unquestioned leader of the Saints at the dish. Kenny Kolquist wrapped up the first two weeks of practice by saying, “We are very happy with where we are, the work ethic towards success is very impressive.” This team is really shaping up to do some special things this season in the NCAA.

Saints Baseball of the Past: 1995

There are only 26 days until the 2005 Saint Scholastica Saints take to the Metrodome floor for their season opening match up against Buena Vista. In order to continue the excitement for another season of Saints baseball we decided to take a look back at Saint Scholastica seasons of the past.

We will start off this series with a look back 10 years at the 1995 Saint Scholastica Saints. The 1995 season marked head coach John Baggs’ forth season at the helm. This season was a break out season, of sorts, for the Saints. Their record of 26-14 was their best single season record up to that point. The 1995 Saint Scholastica Saints featured three players who are now in the team’s Hall of Fame: Freshman Aaron Homolka, Sophomore Ben Sickler, and Junior Steve Lahti.

This season was also marked by the single season achievement of many players. Ben Sickler and Steve Lahti were both named to the First Team All-Region team, while Aaron Homolka, Jeff Burton, and Chad Anikainen were all named to the Second Team All-Region team. The post season team awards for the 1995 team are as follows:
· Tulberg Award.......................................................Ben Sickler
· Tim Anderson Academic Award.........................Aaron Homolka
· Joe Pearson Blue-Gold Award.............Steve Lahti – Scott Jackson
· Justin Harriman Outstanding Hitter..........................Ben Sickler
· John Geifer Award (Gold Glove)...............................Jeff Burton
· Nick Bjerken Rookie of the Year............................Aaron Homolka
· Ben Sickler Captain Award...................Steve Lahti – Ben Sickler
· Corey Kemp Outstanding Pitcher.........................Chad Anikainen

All in all, the 1995 season truly was a break through season for the Saint Scholastica Saints baseball team. It was only the second winning season in Saints history and the first under John Baggs (the first winning season was 1988 when the team went 11-8). The Saints also haven’t had a losing season since. This change in luck can most certainly be attributed to this being Coach Baggs’ forth season as head coach. This would mean that his first recruiting class as head coach was all Senior’s during the 1995 season. The success of the 1995 team showed the College of Saint Scholastica that they had made a solid decision in bring Coach Baggs to the school four years earlier. The Saint Scholastica Saints baseball team hasn’t looked back.