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.