The Johnnies (13-8, 7-3 MIAC) travel to face Augsburg (9-16, 4-8 MIAC) this Saturday, April 23. The MIAC doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis. - Listen Live

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: SJU looks to keep its winning streak intact following junior Hayden Zimmerman's (New Richmond, Wis.) no-hitter and the Johnnies' sweep of Saint Mary's this past Thursday in Collegeville. Zimmerman returned to All-Region form, striking out four and walking none. He entered the game with a 0-3 record and an 11.12 ERA in five road starts (22.2 IP), a far cry from his 8-3 record and five saves in a school-record 75 innings pitched last season.

The SJU defense provided some fine help, including a nice diving catch by sophomore Ian Goldsmith (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) in the fifth. At other times, however, “defense” was not the case as the Johnnies committed a total of five errors. Back-to-back errors in the top of the sixth put runners on second and third with nobody out, but Zimmerman proceeded to record a strikeout and two consecutive unassisted outs at first to end the inning. Another error in the seventh placed a Cardinal on second base with two outs, but Zimmerman got the SMU batter to fly out to left for the final out.

SMU's Gary Seifert rivaled Zimmerman with a no-hitter of his own until the Johnnies' sixth. Goldsmith started the inning with a double, followed by a bunt single from sophomore Alex Powell (Hopkins, Minn.). Goldsmith then scored on a fielder's choice by senior Brian Skluzacek (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori). Fellow senior Matt Butorac (Maple Grove, Minn.) reached on an infield single but was forced out at second on a fielder's choice. Sophomore Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) was hit by a pitch to load the bases before senior Brett Kramer (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) dropped a two-run double to leftfield.

Saint John's jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of game two. Powell doubled to start the Johnnies' first inning, advanced to third on a flyout from Skluzacek and scored on a sac fly from Butorac. Cline reached after getting hit by a pitch and advanced to third on another double from Kramer. Junior Bert Marsnik (Annandale, Minn.) then laced a two-run single to centerfield. The Cardinals, however, answered with four runs in the second to take the lead.

SJU tied the game in the bottom of the second as Powell started the inning with another hit, stole second and advanced to third on a flyout by Butorac. He then scored on a fielder's choice by Cline. The Johnnies scored what proved to be the winning run, unearned, in the fifth. Freshman Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) hit a sac fly to left with the bases loaded, scoring Cline.

Sophomore Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) induced 10 groundballs, five of which were Cardinal hits. He improved to 2-1 on the year, allowing all four runs on seven hits with one strikeout and no walks. Long allowed one hit and struck out two for a scoreless seventh and his third save. He now has a 0.79 ERA in 11.1 innings of relief (0.00 ERA in 7.0 MIAC innings).

A LOOK AT THE AUGGIES: Augsburg has lost six of its last eight games, in which both wins were against Saint Mary's (6-3, 2-1) on April 17. The Auggies dropped a pair of close games at St. Thomas, 8-7 and 3-1, on Thursday. Junior Adam Seaman leads the team in batting average (.395), runs (20), hits (30) and doubles (7). Senior Donald Blunt is batting .314 with a team-leading five home runs and 21 RBI. The rest of the team, however, is batting .268 (154-575). The Auggies' pitching staff has a 5.40 ERA and a .324 opponent batting average.

LAST YEAR: Saint John's forced Augsburg to pull both of its starting pitchers after two innings but settled for a split, the Johnnies' fourth consecutive, last April 25 in Collegeville. The Auggies scored eight unanswered runs in the final three innings to pull out a 12-6 win in game one, but the Johnnies were able to snatch game two, 9-5. SJU built leads of 4-1 and 6-4 in game one but could not hang on as Augsburg pounded out 17 hits in the contest. Kyle Henkemeyer '10 was a home run short of a cycle, going 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI.

Game two, like the previous three doubleheaders, proved to be in the Johnnies' favor. SJU jumped out to a 9-1 lead after three innings, thanks to a six-run third. Henkemeyer went 3-for-4, while Andrew Gurbada '10 posted a 2-for-4 performance with a three-run homer in the second inning. Joe Eiden '10 added two more hits with three RBI. The three combined to go 13-for-23 with eight runs scored, 12 RBI and 22 total bases on the day. Zimmerman improved to 7-1 on the season, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks in a complete-game effort.

SERIES HISTORY: Since 1982, Saint John's is 35-23 against Augsburg, including a 22-10 record away from Collegeville.

NO-HITTERS: Zimmerman's no-hitter against Saint Mary's was the first for SJU since Andy Schneider no-hit St. Olaf in a 10-0 win on April 11, 1998, and was the fourth by a Johnnie under head coach Jerry Haugen's 34-year tenure.

LEAD-OFF RIGHT: SJU has won each of its last four games with sophomore Alex Powell as the leadoff hitter, in which he is 6-for-13 (.462) with a double, triple, six runs scored and two RBI.