Two-time World Series champion David Justice will be throwing out the first pitch on Saturday to celebrate Thomas More’s baseball team inaugural season being played at Thomas More Stadium.
The stadium changed names in 2022 with the Saints set to play home games there for the 2023 season. The Saints will play the University of Cumberlands at noon.
Justice played baseball and basketball at Thomas More after graduating from Covington Latin. He was inducted into the Thomas More Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.
Justice will throw the first pitch to Bobby Young, another former Major Leaguer, drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and later inducted into the Thomas More Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.
The University will honor all previous baseball championship teams at the game as well.
“We are very excited to welcome David Justice back to a Thomas More University event,” said Terry Connor, Thomas More athletic director. “We are also thrilled to invite the community out to Thomas More Stadium to see the facility and cheer on our Saints.”
Justice played three seasons at Thomas More before being drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the fourth round of the 1985 MLB Draft in his junior year. He had a 14-year MLB career with the Braves, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics. Justice won National League Rookie of the Year in 1990 and was a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner.
The Saints are currently 25-14 on the season and 12-8 in conference play. Saturday’s contest with Cumberlands is a doubleheader with the second game to start approximately between 2:30-3 p.m. The Saints are 4.5 back of first place Cumberland (TN) in the Mid-South conference with the Saints having six conference games remaining. Thomas More is enjoying their new home, sporting a 14-3 record at their new stadium this season.
Per a release from Thomas More:
In March 2022, the University announced a partnership with the Florence Y’alls Baseball Club that resulted in the renaming of the home of the Florence Y’alls to Thomas More Stadium. As part of the agreement, the stadium is now home to the Saints’ baseball team. Thomas More announced a major comprehensive fundraising campaign in Fall 2021 in support of a five-year strategic plan that includes enhanced athletic facilities for many of the Saints 31 sports programs. The University also announced in 2022 that they have been granted provisional membership to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II, making them the only Division II university in the Northern Kentucky/greater Cincinnati region. Thomas More currently competes in the Mid-South Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The Saints have been in the NAIA for the past four academic years and will retain NAIA membership until completion of the 2022-23 academic year.
Thomas More faculty, staff, and students receive free admission to the game on April 15, with their Thomas More I.D. card. Other community members can purchase tickets at the stadium.
Below is the schedule of when teams will be honored:
Bottom of 1st-Dyllan Hasler
Top of 2nd-Competition Dance Team
Bottom of 2nd-Wrestlers
Top of 3rd-Devin Webster
Bottom of 3rd-Men’s Basketball
Top of 4th-Women’s Basketball
Bottom of 4th – 1956 Baseball Team
Top of 5th– 1964 Baseball Team
Bottom of 5th– 1965 Baseball Team
Top of 6th– 1966 Baseball Team
Bottom of 6th – 2000 Baseball Team
Top of 7th-2003 Baseball Team
2:30-3:00 ish- Game 2 Begins
Bottom of 1st– 2008 Baseball Team
Top of the 2nd– 2010 Baseball Team
Bottom of 2nd- 2011 Baseball Team
Top of 3rd– 2013 Baseball Team
Bottom of 3rd- 2014 Baseball Team
Top of4th- 2015 Baseball Team
Bottom of 4th- 2016 Baseball Team
Top of 5th – 2018 Baseball Team
7th inning stretch-Take me out to the ball game