This is Part 2 of a two-part series on the success of UMHB’s baserunning in baseball and softball this spring. The series originated from our conversations with head baseball coach Mike Stawski and head softball coach Melissa Mojica, as UMHB is currently one of three D-III institutions whose baseball and softball teams each rank in the Top 15 nationally in stolen bases per game. Part 1 featuring Cru Softball can be read at the link here.
BELTON — Mike Stawski knew he had a serious problem. And there was no easy fix.
It was the fall of 2009. The setting: Louisville, Kentucky. And Stawski, just three years removed from his college playing days as a pitcher at Saint Joseph’s College (IN), looked over his new team at Spalding University. It was a group that included a mere 13 returners from a lackluster nine-win squad the prior spring, along with 18 true freshmen, and led by a first-year head coach.
It didn’t take long for a glaring deficiency to reveal itself in the team’s first practice of the fall: the Golden Eagles couldn’t hit.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, we’re not any good and we can’t hit,’” Stawski, now in his fifth year as UMHB’s head coach, recalls. “So I turned to my assistant coach, who was a hitting guy, and I said, ‘Before you come to the office tomorrow, I need you to figure out a way for us to score…without getting hits.”
The idea was that, for Spalding to have any chance of winning in its 2010 season, Stawski’s squad would need to have some form of unconventionality on offense. But it was a frustratingly complex assignment to identify just what that unique edge might be.
The next morning, Stawski’s assistant coach arrived late. He was sitting in his car, laboring over the irony of the burning question; how could a team consistently move into scoring position, much less cross the plate, without doing the primary thing that produces runs?
“It was like a riddle he couldn’t solve,” Stawski remembers. “He walked in, and was like, ‘Coach, I’ve got nothing. I don’t know.’ And then I thought, ‘Well, what if we just steal a bunch of bases?’”
It was an almost too-simple solution, but the rationale behind it proved groundbreaking. If Spalding found a way to put runners on first base—via walks, hit-by-pitches, errors on the opponent—all they would have to do is steal second base within the next at-bat. Two ground balls to the right side of the infield, and that runner from second would score. Do that a handful of times over the course of a nine-inning contest, and a win just might be in the cards.
“From that point on, everything was born,” Stawski notes. “We came up with the baserunning system and figured out the best way to do it; how aggressive we needed to be, what the lead-offs looked like.
“We did it out of pure necessity. We weren’t going to score runs by getting three, four, five hits in an inning. That wasn’t going to happen. We knew we were going to win games, 3-2, with five hits. And we did.”
The Golden Eagles won alright. They went from 9-31 the year prior to his arrival to a 20-20 mark in that first season. The next spring saw Spalding go 20-4 in SLIAC play alone, finishing one game out of first place in the standings. And in 2012, Stawski’s team hoisted the USCAA Championship trophy in Springfield, Illinois, winners of the annual Small-College World Series. They won 33 games that year in a dramatic turnaround, in large part thanks to aggressiveness on the basepaths.
It was a system predicated on treating baserunning—and stealing bases in particular—with extreme value. While the majority of teams viewed stealing bases as a way to surprise the opponent once or twice over the course of a game and possibly take an extra base when trailing in the late innings, Stawski made it part of the fabric of his team’s entire identity. Even with a better lineup of hitters in his final season as head coach in 2013, Spalding ranked No. 201 in D3 in batting average (.283), but No. 10 in stolen bases (121).
When he moved to Concordia-Chicago, first as the lead assistant and pitching coach before taking the reins of the program in 2016, his baserunning system came with him. In the heart of the Midwest, the Cougars finished each of Stawski’s first three seasons as head coach in the Top 10 nationally in stolen bases per game. That included consecutive D-III World Series appearances in 2017 and 2018 with teams that hit .313 and .315 respectively, as higher-level hitting was paired with elite baserunning for a dynamic offensive combo. What had begun as a necessity was now a luxury. No longer were stolen bases a means by which to manufacture a few runs and stay competitive for nine innings. It was now the edge for a team with frequent trips deep into the postseason and regular appearances in the national rankings.
“I brought the baserunning system with me, but [at Concordia-Chicago], we had better hitters,” Stawski said. “We kept doing it, and that’s how you go to a World Series. Now you have an offensive team that can actually get hits, and you’re running bases. So you can’t stop everything.”
The same has been seen during his last five years in Belton, an era that began with a Covid-abbreviated season in 2020, and has since seen Stawski’s teams tally four of the five 100-stolen base seasons in the program’s D-III history. That includes this year, one that still has 13 regular games left and has already seen The Cru swipe 114 bases. Considering it took UMHB 41 games last spring to set a new ASC record with 126, putting up 109 through just 25 contests is a stellar feat by itself. After all, they’re on pace to swipe 178 bags in this 2025 campaign, and that’s if they only play 41 games.
Nobody in Division III baseball is averaging more stolen bases per game than The Cru’s 4.22, ranking No. 1 out of 383 programs nationwide. Amongst all NCAA programs in D-I, D-II, and D-III, UMHB’s current base-stealing average is fifth in the country. There have previously been exceptional seasons on the basepaths in Belton under Stawski’s direction—breaking an ASC record last year is especially noteworthy—but never has The Cru been so effective within Stawski’s baserunning system.
“Last year, we had a bunch of new guys in the lineup. It was guys like Chris Perez, and Cam Talburt, and a few of the freshmen in the middle that were new. And some of the guys that were returners weren’t the greatest baserunners. Whereas this year, you look up and down the lineup, it’s a lot of familiar faces and guys who have been here and done it.
“It’s all these guys who have been in the system. And that’s what it really comes down to. It takes time to understand what we’re trying to do and get comfortable.”
With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that Carson Hagan, the program’s all-time leader in stolen bases, is in his fourth year in the program. Along with Hagan, who has 23 stolen bases, Tyler Betts (12 SB) is in his third year, and Talburt (21 SB) and Easton Cline (12 SB) are both in their second year. Experience unquestionably translates to success in the detailed baserunning system Stawski has built over the last 16 seasons, one that has constantly been expanded and altered.
That’s mostly because it goes far deeper than just getting a quality secondary lead-off, a good jump on the pitch, and correctly timing the slide into second base. Just consider the fact that the Crusaders learn and memorize 10 different lead-offs—the steps taken off the base prior to the pitch.
“I didn’t start with 10 lead-offs,” Stawski said. “I started with two. Then all of a sudden, you get some athletic players in the system and you add a third one. Then I meshed the No. 1 lead-off and the No. 2 lead-off to create a fourth one. Now we’re at 10. It just keeps building, and building, and building.”
Much of that comes from the pressure opponents put on The Cru, forcing those tweaks and adjustments as time goes on. It’s no secret that UMHB wants to steal bases and cause havoc for the opposing defense. They aren’t catching anyone off-guard by stealing early in at-bats. And that’s where the coaching comes in.
“Other teams do a great job of stopping us. They spend all week going, ‘Well, these guys are going to run. They have 100 bags in 20 games. So here’s what we’re going to do to stop them.’ And I go, ‘Wow, man, they really slowed us down, and this is what they did to slow us down.’ So Coach Jones and I spend the next 48 hours watching film, figuring out what we could’ve done to run more. So then we put something new in to combat what they just did to us.”
It is a process of constant evaluation and re-evaluation, on the part of both the coaches and the players themselves. Improving their lead-offs and baserunning IQ is not just an emphasis, but a priority for the Crusader position players, just the same as refining their swing through extra pitches in the batting cage or taking extra fly balls to quicken their reads of the ball off the bat. There has been no better example of that than Hagan, the program’s king in career stolen bases.
“He wasn’t a guy we recruited for his running skill set,” Stawski said of Hagan. “He came in and said, ‘I like this. I’m going to pour into it.’ A basketball player pours into shooting free throws or goes into the gym and shoots 200 shots. Carson went in every day and learned [baserunning].
“He decided he was going to be elite at this. He said, ‘I’m not going to hit 4 buckets of baseballs every day. I may hit two. But the other 30 minutes I’m going to spend on making sure I’m the best baserunner on the team.’ And he was. That kept him in the lineup for basically three years. We just couldn’t take him out.”
Hagan’s dedication to not only learning the baserunning system, but turning himself into one of the best base-stealers in D-III highlights another notable byproduct of UMHB’s aggressiveness on the basepaths. It rewards doing the sometimes-overlooked things exceptionally well, such as a runner stealing second to set himself up to score on a base hit up the middle. As Stawski pointed out, Hagan stayed in the lineup even when his batting average dipped and he went through cold streaks at the plate. Why? He was so dynamic as a baserunner that all he needed to do was get to first and UMHB would have an advantage. That’s the kind of skill set that Stawski’s baserunning approach is able to reward.
“We try to use everyone’s entire tool chest, whatever that looks like. Let’s use all the weapons and give them all the bullets that we can. If Carson Hagan’s not going to use all his home run bullets but Riley Bender is, that’s great. And if Riley Bender’s not going to use all his stolen base bullets but Carson Hagan is, great.
“At least it’s there for them to use, if they need to use that bullet. Riley has a stolen base bullet in his chamber. Now, he’s not going to use it like Carson, but it’s there if he needs it. If we need it, it’s there.”
The approach itself is unconventional too, when compared with traditional baserunning style. Stawski points out that UMHB’s aggressiveness in stealing leads to runners being thrown out at times, but it’s an accepted part of the system. The Cru reaches the next base safely on 87.2% of steal attempts, so the analytics say the reward far outweighs the risk, even if it leads to an untimely out in certain cases.
But that clashes with the long-accepted mentality of staying conservative, taking an extra base when the opportunity is presented, but doing nothing to jeopardize being thrown out in the middle of an at-bat. It is partially why just three teams, out of 383 in D-III baseball, have stolen 100 bases by this point in the 2025 season.
“In our system, we don’t care if you get thrown out. We don’t care if you get picked off. We want you to be ultra-aggressive. The coaching staff will take 100% of the blame for anything that goes wrong inside the baserunning system. But that is basically the opposite of what these guys have been taught their entire lives; ‘Don’t make outs on the bases, don’t get picked off, don’t get thrown out. And if you do, it’s your fault.’ So when they get here, you have to re-program their brains.”
That development process begins in the fall. In one notable wrinkle to a portion of The Cru’s fall intrasquad scrimmages, a baserunner is required to steal the next base within the first two pitches of the following at-bat. While it isn’t at all the approach UMHB takes in the spring, and especially in game settings, applying that unique rule serves multiple purposes.
It forces the runner to commit to stealing right away, considering if they don’t attempt to take the next base within the first two pitches, it goes down as an out. That forms the “ultra-aggressive” baserunning mentality Stawski aims to instill, and builds confidence the more a runner slides safely into the next base. It forces UMHB’s catchers to quicken their throws to the bases, improving their pop times—the time it takes from the pitch hitting the catcher’s glove to the ball reaching second base. Of course, going against one of the best base-stealing teams in the NCAA only makes that task tougher on the entire defense—the pitcher, catcher, middle infielders—so the skill work happens both ways.
“It forces the hand of the runner to be like, ‘You’re going. You’re not going to just stand around and wait for us to get out 27 times at the plate. Because it’s a hard game and hitting is really difficult. You don’t have time to wait around for 3 or 4 pitches. You have to go now.”
“Learning it” encompasses far more than the average observer would guess it does. Stealing bases seems straightforward; lead off, take off sprinting for the next base when the pitcher begins his motion, and hope you slide under the tag. But characterizing it as that, at least in the context of UMHB’s program, would be such a generalization that it barely describes what The Cru’s baserunning system truly entails. It includes hours of watching film, figuring out the exact foot positioning on the lead, reading the middle infield, and always staying alert.
“I didn’t create our baserunning system for the 6.6-second [60-yard dash] guys,” Stawski said. “Those guys are going to steal on any team. My system is built for the 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 runners, because they need a way to take the advantage back from the pitcher and catcher. That’s what our system does. We become efficient runners, we know when to run, and we’re able to find tendencies within the opponent.
“All those small things of when we think they’re going to pick to when they’re going to throw a breaking ball give us small advantages. We spend hours trying to find those advantages, but if it results in an extra base or two each game, it just might result in one or two extra runs. Two extra runs per game, which is what we’re averaging right now compared to last year, is three extra wins. Three extra wins when you’ve played 20 games is 10% of your season. It’s not about speed. It’s a lot about information. It’s a lot about being comfortable. It’s a lot about being efficient. We’re trying to win an 80-foot race.”
They’re showing no signs of hitting the brakes anytime soon. In a momentum-building doubleheader sweep of Schreiner on Tuesday evening—one that saw UMHB’s heads-up baserunning lead to Easton Cline scoring the game-winning run on a wild pitch—the Crusaders stole five bases. And perhaps the even more insightful stat goes one step further: Of the five stolen bases recorded by UMHB, all five led to the base-stealer scoring within the following two at-bats.
Stawski’s system works; there’s no doubt about that. But the buy-in from the players themselves is what takes it to the next level. Gameplans are impactful, but only as good as the real-time execution by those tasked with carrying it out. And UMHB has that buy-in in bunches.
“We have reports we do each week for the opponent that’s coming up, and Coach Jones does a phenomenal job with putting together the running report,” Stawski said. “And that word—trust—is spattered throughout the report; trust his voice, trust his read, trust our report on what they’re going to do. But then we have to go above and beyond, and as coaches, be okay with being wrong.
“There have been times where I’ve called a steal and was sure a certain pitch was coming. But it didn’t come, and we got thrown out. But I then make sure I go find the [baserunner] and tell him, ‘Hey man, that was on me. I thought another breaking ball was coming, he had thrown the last one in the dirt. But it was a fastball away. You didn’t have any chance. That was on me.’ Because I want him to know, ‘You didn’t get thrown out. I got you thrown out.’ So that way he’s not hesitant the next time he’s on base to go.
“We as coaches have to swallow our pride sometimes, and it’s a tough conversation to have. But the players are also like, ‘Coach, we have 100 stolen bases. We’re good. The other 100 stolen bases are on you too.’ The proof is in the pudding. You look at our success and the records we’ve broken, it’s all there. This isn’t smoke and mirrors or a one-off. We steal bases. That’s what we do. We keep setting, and then breaking, the school record year after year.”
If there is one thing The Cru’s rising year-over-year stolen base numbers prove, it is that trust is earned, not given. Stawski’s unconventional approach took time to be understood by his players in Belton, and it took even more time for the Crusaders to run with the kind of passion they do at the present moment. But it has only reached that point because of resilience; coaches being patient enough to give it time to develop, and players being willing to view the role of baserunning differently and dedicate time to getting fine-tuning it.
“It just takes a second,” Stawski added. “Our baserunning numbers our first year here were impressive to the people here, but not to me. We finished in the low 100s [in stolen bases], and had as many as we do now in half the games. But the guys didn’t know me. Now, we’re four years later, and they have the mentality of, ‘Blindfold me and I’ll run. It doesn’t matter.’ It takes time to gain that. And without it, we don’t do what we do.”
