Saint John's (19-16, 12-6 MIAC) plays host to Gustavus Adolphus (15-21, 5-13 MIAC) for the regular-season finale this Saturday, May 8. The doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Saint John's Field in Collegeville.
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's stayed in the hunt for the MIAC title and a conference tournament berth with a split of Hamline last Saturday. The Johnnies scored five runs in the fifth inning to win 7-6 in game one, but allowed the game-tying run in the seventh before losing game two, 7-6 in eight innings. SJU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in game one thanks to a two-RBI single from freshman third baseman Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins). Hamline answered with four runs in the second and one more in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead before the Johnnies' big fifth inning. Sophomore designated hitter Bert Marsnik (Annandale, Minn.) blasted a three-run homer in the fifth, his second of the season, followed by RBI-singles from juniors Joe Eiden (Maple Grove, Minn./Totino-Grace) and Brian Skluzacek (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori). Senior Matt Johnson (Eagan, Minn.) allowed five runs, three earned, in four innings. Junior Brett Kramer (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) entered in the fifth, allowed one run and earned the victory. Sophomore Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.) pitched a scoreless seventh innings for his fifth save of the season. Junior shortstop Matt Butorac (Maple Grove, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Marsnik, Skluzacek and senior first baseman Kyle Henkemeyer (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) added two hits apiece.
SJU answered Hamline's first-inning run with two runs in the second and four more in the third to take a 6-5 lead into the fourth. Marsnik and senior third baseman Michael Carr (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) tallied three hits each, while Skluzacek and junior outfielder Matt Boys (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnetonka) collected two RBI apiece. Zimmerman allowed six runs, the most for any outing this season, in seven innings of work. Freshman Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) struck out the first batter he faced before allowing a single, wild pitch and the game-winning single to take the loss.
A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus fell to 0-8 on the road in MIAC play with 11-7 and 3-2 losses to Augsburg this past Wednesday. Despite out-hitting the Auggies in game one (16-14), errors proved costly as Gustavus let in five unearned runs in the game. The Gusties took an early 2-0 lead in game one, scoring two runs on four hits in the first inning. Augsburg tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the second inning, but Gustavus answered in the top of the third with a two-run home run by Kevin Roth. The wheels came off for Gustavus in the bottom of the third inning, as Augsburg took advantage of a Gustavus error, scoring six runs on five hits to take a 8-4 lead. Gustavus starter Alan Woitas went three innings, giving up eight runs (three earned) on 10 hits. Augsburg added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and Gustavus scored three runs on three hits in the fifth, bringing the score to 11-7. GAC threatened in the sixth and seventh innings, but left two runners stranded each inning. In game two, Gustavus tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second inning on an RBI single by Willy Hanson. The Gusties got the go-ahead run in the top of the third inning when Rains reached on a lead-off single, then scored five batters later on a fielder's choice. Augsburg took the lead with two unanswered runs in the bottom half of the inning to bring the score to 3-2. Cody Sukalski suffered the loss, allowing three runs on eight hits thru six innings of work.
Rains leads the Gusties with a .485 batting average (32-for-66), followed closely by senior Andrew Woitas, who leads the team in hits (49), t-doubles (7) and triples (3). GAC enters Saturday's games batting .331 as a team, but allows a .340 opponent batting average with a 6.63 team ERA.
LAST YEAR'S SERIES: Saint John's dropped both games of last year's doubleheader at Gustavus Adolphus, 5-3 and 7-2. The doubleheader was the first for SJU outdoors in 30 days. Butorac, Henkemeyer, Skluzacek and senior Andrew Gurbada (Royalton, Minn.) collected two hits apiece in game one, as the Johnnies out-hit the Gusties 10-9. A solo home run from Butorac, his second of the season, and an RBI-single from Eiden accounted for SJU's two runs in game two of the twinbill. Kramer took the loss in game two, allowing seven runs, five earned, on six hits in just three innings.
WHAT SJU NEEDS FOR A MIAC TOURNAMENT BERTH: The Johnnies can clinch a MIAC Tournament berth by winning one of their two games against Gustavus Saturday AND an Augsburg or St. Olaf loss. SJU holds the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Oles due to the Johnnies' sweep on April 10.
WHAT SJU NEEDS FOR A SHARE OF THE MIAC TITLE: Unlike a MIAC Tournament berth, the regular-season conference championship can be shared (there are no tie-breaking procedures). Therefore, SJU can win a share of the MIAC title by sweeping both games from the Gusties AND doubleheader splits from both Concordia-Moorhead (vs. Bethel) and St. Thomas (vs. St. Olaf).
'OL BUDDY BERT: Marsnik was named the MIAC Baseball Athlete of the Week on April 3. He batted .615 (8-for-13) with a .846 slugging percentage, a home run and four RBI as the Johnnies went 3-1 in MIAC play last week. Marsnik leads the team in batting average (.455), t-runs (16), hits (25), t-doubles (6), t-home runs (2), slugging percentage (.673) and on-base percentage (.516) in 18 conference games. The designated hitter is currently riding a 12-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in each of the Johnnies' last 21 games (33 of the 35 games overall).
