The Saint John's baseball team (6-3, 0-0 MIAC) returns to action Wednesday, March 17, against Bethany Lutheran. The doubleheader is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Preview Video:
-Head Coach Jerry Haugen (1:43)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: SJU returned from its spring break trip to Arizona with a 4-3 record. Junior shortstop Matt Butorac (Maple Grove, Minn.) led the team in almost every batting category for the second consecutive year. He batted .577 (15-26) with 15 hits, eight runs scored, seven doubles, one triple, nine RBI, and 24 total bases for a .923 slugging percentage. Butorac, who bats left-handed, was 3-for-4 against southpaws and 5-for-7 with runners in scoring position (11-for-18 with runners on base). Senior outfielder Andrew Gurbada (Royalton, Minn.) finished the week batting .423 (11-26) with 11 hits, seven runs scored, three doubles, six RBI, and 14 total bases for a .538 slugging percentage. As a team, SJU cracked 23 extra-base hits (19 doubles) in seven games, but failed to have a home run. The Johnnies' leadoff hitter reached base 31 of the 56 opportunities (.554) on the trip.
A LOOK AT THE VIKINGS: Bethany Lutheran is currently 6-2 on the season, including a sweep over Carleton (5-0, 6-3) and a split with Augsburg (1-3, 9-0) in the Metrodome. The Vikings were picked to win the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) in their preseason coaches' poll released Feb. 25. If BLC, the second-place finisher in the 2009 conference race and UMAC Tournament runner-up, was to prove the preseason prediction right and win the UMAC championship, it would end a 13-year supremacy by the College of St. Scholastica, who has advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of the last five seasons. The Vikings were well-represented in numerous NCAA national statistics categories in both hitting and pitching in 2009. Bethany returns all but two starters from last year's team that went 17-3 in UMAC play in addition to four transfer students who are expected to make an immediate impact. Justin Schwecke and Ashton Dorris, the reigning UMAC Pitcher and Player of the Year, come back for their senior seasons as does all-conference players Trent Sonnicksen, Nick Johnson, Travis Fisher and Michael Greibrok. Joining the Vikings in 2010 is Ben Smith, a transfer who hit .367 with 17 doubles and 42 RBI at Hamline a year ago. Another transfer who will make headlines right away is pitcher Cody Hallahan, who spent two years at Minnesota State-Mankato. Sonnicksen leads the team with a .357 batting average and 10 hits, while Darin Hendley has three doubles and 10 RBI. Hallahan leads all pitchers with a 0.50 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 18 innings pitched.
600 WINS: Saint John's University head baseball coach Jerry Haugen became the 19th active NCAA Division III coach to reach 600 wins and 31st all-time in Division III history as the Johnnies swept the Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) 5-3 and 6-3 on Tuesday, March 2. His career record now stands at 602-522-5 (.535) in 33 seasons, all in Collegeville.
PROBABLE HURLERS: Junior Brett Kramer (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) and sophomore Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.) will be the probable starting pitchers for Wednesday. In Arizona, Zimmerman posted a 2-0 record, including a 3.65 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched. He allowed 10 hits (.204 avg.) and allowed six runs (five earned) with eight strikeouts. He forced 21 groundball outs on the trip. Kramer, meanwhile, tallied a 4.50 ERA despite allowing a .209 opponent batting average in 12 innings of work. The two combined to allow a .125 (2-16) batting average to lefties in Arizona.
