St. Edward's Hilltoppers baseball

St. Edward's Hilltoppers baseball
St. Edward's Hilltoppers baseball
2026 St. Edward's Hilltoppers baseball team
Founded	1902 (approx.)
Overall record	1819–1494–11
University	St. Edward's University
Athletic director	Dr. Jim Sarra
Head coach	Ryan Femath (3rd season)
Conference	Lone Star Conference
Location	Austin, Texas
Home stadium	Lucian-Hamilton Field
Nickname	Hilltoppers
Colors	Navy and Vegas gold;
NCAA tournament appearances
	2007 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2025
Conference tournament champions
	Heartland: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Conference regular season champions
	Heart of Texas: 1990; Heartland: 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018

The St. Edward's Hilltoppers baseball team represents St. Edward's University in NCAA Division II college baseball. The hilltoppers have competed in the Lone Star Conference since 2019. The Hilltoppers play home games at Lucian-Hamilton Field. The team won six consecutive conference championships in the Heartland Conference from 2013 to 2018.^[2]

History

Early history

While the true date of origin for the team is unknown, the earliest confirmed season of play was during the 1902 season under head coach Billy Disch. The team was disbanded and reinstated several times during its early history, notably disbanding from 1909 to 1920 and from 1931 to 1947. From its formation until 1928 the team remained independent and unaffiliated with any athletic conference. Following this period, they were members of the Texas Conference from 1928 until 1952. In the early history of the program the baseball team remained comparatively undistinguished with no conference tournament or regular season championships during this time.^[2]

Present era

The team left the Texas conference following the 1952 season to join the Big State Conference during Brother Folen's tenure as head coach. It switched to the Heart of Texas conference in 1987, then again to the Heartland Conference in 1999 where the team won six consecutive conference tournament championships and four regular season championships between the years of 2013 and 2018 under head coach Rob Penders. The team also made 6 NCAA Division II tournament appearances during this same time period. However, in 2021 Penders was fired on allegations of racism against players following which Penders filed a bias lawsuit against the university. In 2024, Penders dropped the suit and settled with the university following two independent investigations that concluded he did not discriminate against two players named in the original allegations.^[3]^[4]

Stadium

The Hilltoppers play at Lucian-Hamilton Field, named in honor of former athletic director Lucian Blersch and former baseball coach Tom Hamilton.^[5]

Head coaches

Years	Coach	Record	Win %
1902–1908	Billy Disch	50–25–3	.660
1921	William Gardner	7–7	.500
1922–1929	Jack Meagher	34–37	.479
1930	Al Sarafiney	0–1	.000
1948–1954	Brother Folen	47–41–2	.533
1955–1956	Ed Norris^{[note 1]}	56–60	.483
1960	Ed Norris	56–60	.483
1976–1977	Ed Norris	56–60	.483
1957	Tom McGlaughlin	7–7	.500
1958–1959	Brother Lucian Blersch	11–13	.458
1961–1973	Tom Hamilton	162–182–2	.471
1974–1975	Ray Schmotzer	29–40	.420
1978–1985	John Knorr^{[note 2]}	317–198	.616
1986–1990	James Keller	128–148–2	.464
1991–1992	John Knorr	317–198	.616
1993–1994	Jack Lala	34–59–1	.367
1995–1998	Bud Mader	84–107	.440
1999–2002	Gene Salazar	93–101–1	.479
2003–2006	Jeremy Farber	121–97	.555
2007–2021	Rob Penders	507–276	.647
2022–2023	Bryan Faulds	72–43	.626
2024–present	Ryan Femath	60–52	.536

^[2]

Year-by-year results

Year	Coach	Record	Conference Record	Percent	Notes
1902	Billy Disch	4–2		.667
1903		3–0		1.000
1904		17–4		.810
1905		7–7		.500
1906		5–9		.357
1907		9–2		.818
1908		5–1–3		.722
No team data from 1909 through 1920
1921	William Gardner	7–7		.500
1922	Jack Meagher	7–7		.500
1923		4–8		.333
No team data from 1924 through 1925
1926		8–10		.444
1927
1928		8–7	5–3	.533
1929		7–5		.583
1930		Al Sarafiney	0–1		.000
No team data from 1931 through 1947
1948	Brother Folen	10–9–1		.525
1950		8–5–1		.607
1951		10–6		.625
1952		8–4	6–1	.667
1953		9–6	4–2	.600
1954		2–11	1–5	.354
1955	Ed Norris	6–8	2–6	.429
1956	Ed Norris	10–5	4–4	.667
1957	Tom McGlaughlin	7–7	1–5	.500
1958	Lucien Blersch	5–8	1–6	.385
1959	Lucien Blersch	6–5	0–3	.546
1960	Ed Norris	16–8	8–3	.667
1961	Tom Hamilton	10–9	3–7	.526
1962		9–10	4–4	.474
1963		4–11	1–7	.267
1964		8–15	3–3	.348
1965		10–14	3–5	.417
1966		17–12	5–2	.586
1967		9–11	4–3	.450
1968		6–14	5–4	.300
1969		19–14	8–4	.576
1970		10–16	3–7	.385
1971		19–19–1	6–4	.500
1972		23–17–1	7–2	.573
1973		18–20	7–3	.474
1974	Ray Schmotzer	15–19	7–5	.441
1975	Ray Schmotzer	14–21	3–9	.400
1976	Ed Norris	8–23	4–7	.258
1977	Ed Norris	16–16	3–8	.500
1978	John Knorr	31–18	6–9	.633
1979		33–17	8–6	.660
1980		35–22	11–6	.614
1981		34–17	9–8	.667
1982		32–26	7–9	.552
1983		29–24	8–7	.547
1984		40–13	9–6	.755
1985		30–17	3–9	.638
1986	James Keller	38–31	9–6	.551
1987		31–31–1	9–6	.500
1988		21–29–1	7–8	.422
1989		6–40	3–12	.130
1990	James Keller	32–17	10–5	.653
1991	John Knorr	27–22	2–10	.551
1992	John Knorr	26–22	4–11	.542
1993	Jack Lala	17–28–1	4–11	.380
1994	Jack Lala	17–31	4–11	.354
1995	Bud Mader	20–28	4–17	.417
1996		21–25	10–11	.466
1997		31–20	15–9	.617
1998		12–34	2–19	.261
1999	Gene Salazar	22–25	8–12	.468
2000		26–23		.531
2001		28–24		.539
2002		17–29–1		.372
2003	Jeremy Farber	25–31		.446
2004		25–28	6–10	.472
2005		35–18	28–12	.660
2006		36–20	29–11	.643
2007	Rob Penders	43–15	31–9	.741
2008		40–16	38–11	.714
2009		34–22	31–18	.607
2010		35–22	29–18	.614
2011		27–24	19–11	.529
2012		37–16	26–9	.698
2013		44–18	24–12	.710
2014		39–16	23–7	.709
2015		40–13	22–5	.755
2016		46–12	23–4	.793
2017		33–20	14–10	.623
2018		34–21	18–10	.618
2019		27–27	11–10	.500
2020		11–11	11–11	.500
2021		17–23	14–18	.425
2022	Bryan Faulds	32–25	27–21	.561
2023	Bryan Faulds	40–17	34–13	.702
2024	Ryan Femath	23–29	23–25	.442
2025	Ryan Femath	37–23	31–17	.617

^[2]

First-team All-Americans

Name	Year	Selectors
Roger Metzger	1969
Henry Thames	1982
Greg Trlicek	1983
Patrick Colgan	2007
Stephen Johnson	2012	NCBWA, ABCA, Daktronics
Brannon Easterling	2014	ABCA, NCBWA
Wes Koenig	2014	ABCA, Daktronics, NCBWA
J.D. Arrowood	2016	ABCA
Connor Cox	2025	NCBWA

^[2]

Players in the MLB draft

Year	Name	Round	Team
1965	George Gazegorek	70th	Baltimore Orioles
1969	Roger Metzger	1st	Chicago Cubs
1972	Anton Rosentritt	14th	Atlanta Braves
1981	Bubba Jennings	10th	Cincinnati Reds
1981	Myron Gilmore	18th	Toronto Blue Jays
1987	Todd Van Horn	15th	Texas Rangers
1997	Todd Naff	30th	San Diego Padres
2005	Jesse Bogan	Ind.	Frontier League
2005	Stephen Puhl	17th	New York Mets
2006	Logan Wood	Ind.	American Association
2006	Stephen Puhl	17th	New York Mets
2008	Bradley Goldsmith	Ind.	American Association
2010	Jonathan Burns	26th	Atlanta Braves
2012	Tyler Harris	Ind.	American Association
	Casey Russell	Ind.	American Association
	Stephen Johnson	6th	San Francisco Giants
2013	Taylor Johnson	40th	Detroit Tigers
2014	Brannon Easterling	20th	Chicago White Sox
2014	Ransom LaLonde	Ind.	Frontier League
2015	J.D. Arrowood	40th	Cincinnati Reds
2016	Cameron Stanton	30th	Atlanta Braves
2016	Joseph Olson	FA	Tampa Bay Rays
2017	Hunter Courson	Ind.	American Association
	Romeo Cortina	Ind.	Frontier League
	Brandon Boone	39th	Miami Marlins
	Cam Hatch	Ind.	Pacific Association
2018	Tanner Lawson	21st	Atlanta Braves
2018	Jake Davis	Ind.	Frontier League
2021	Blake Holub	15th	Detroit Tigers

^[2]^[6]^[7]

Notes

^ Overall record shown reflects cumulative total across all tenures.
^ Overall record shown reflects cumulative total across all tenures.

References

^ St. Edwards Logo Reference Sheet (PDF). April 28, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "St. Edward's Baseball 2025-26 Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved February 11, 2026.
^ "St. Edward's baseball coach, fired after allegations of racism, sues university". KVUI. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "Former St. Edward's White Baseball Coach Ends Firing Bias Suit". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "Lucian-Hamilton Baseball Field". Retrieved February 11, 2026.
^ "The 2018 Major League Baseball Draft - Baseball Almanac". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "The 2021 Major League Baseball Draft - Baseball Almanac". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[6] Overall record shown reflects cumulative total across all tenures.

[7] Overall record shown reflects cumulative total across all tenures.

[1] St. Edwards Logo Reference Sheet (PDF). April 28, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2019.

[record-book-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "St. Edward's Baseball 2025-26 Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved February 11, 2026.

[3] "St. Edward's baseball coach, fired after allegations of racism, sues university". KVUI. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[4] "Former St. Edward's White Baseball Coach Ends Firing Bias Suit". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[5] "Lucian-Hamilton Baseball Field". Retrieved February 11, 2026.

[8] "The 2018 Major League Baseball Draft - Baseball Almanac". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[9] "The 2021 Major League Baseball Draft - Baseball Almanac". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved February 11, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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