Saint John's University senior shortstop Matt Butorac (Maple Grove, Minn.) batted .474 (9-19) with two doubles and 11 RBI in the Johnnies’ six games last week. He used a balanced attack, collecting three hits in each of SJU’s three doubleheaders, to extend his current hitting streak to 10 games (14-31, .452 avg. with 12 RBI during the streak). Butorac has also recorded an RBI in each of his last eight games.
He went 3-for-6 with three RBI at Gustavus (May 2), 3-for-8 with three RBI and two runs scored at Concordia (May 5), and ended the regular season with a 3-for-5 performance and five RBI at home against Macalester (May 7). In total, he batted 7-for-9 (.778) with runners in scoring position and 8-for-11 (.727) with men on base for the week.
Butorac ended conference play with the team-lead in batting average (.393), hits (24), doubles (8), extra-base hits (10), RBI (22) and slugging percentage (.607). Butorac is currently seventh in school history in three different career categories: hits (127), total bases (189) and RBI (84).
The Johnnies (19-12, 13-7 MIAC) make their second consecutive appearance in the four-team, double-elimination MIAC Tournament this Friday, May 13, against St. Thomas. The nine-inning game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Veterans Field on the campus of Minnetonka High School. All of SJU's tournament games will be aired live on WBHR-660 AM and streamed on www.gojohnnies.com.