The Johnnies (15-8, 9-3 MIAC) play host to Hamline (16-10, 9-3 MIAC) for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader today at Saint John's Field in Collegeville.
Preview Video:
-Head coach Jerry Haugen (1:52)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's received fine performances from three different pitchers as the Johnnies swept Augsburg on Saturday, April 23, in Minneapolis. SJU took game one with a 2-0 decision in 10 innings and followed it with a 4-0 shutout in game two. The Johnnies have now won six straight games and eight of their last nine. Senior catcher Brian Skluzacek (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) lifted a two-out, two-run double over the right-fielder's head to break a scoreless tie in the top of the 10th. Seniors Matt Boys (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnetonka) and Andrew Hengel (Bemidji, Minn.) had two hits apiece to lead SJU, as Augsburg's Bryant Nordby allowed six hits in 8.2 innings. Freshman Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) induced a game-ending double play to post three innings of scoreless relief and improve to 3-0 on the season. He scattered three hits and struck out two. Long now has 0.00 ERA in 10 MIAC innings of relief (0.63 ERA in 14.1 innings overall). Senior Brett Kramer (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) allowed four hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in seven scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 1.42 in 44.1 innings (seven starts) this season. He now has a 0.64 ERA in 28 MIAC innings and has allowed just two earned runs in his last 32 innings pitched since the Johnnies' spring break trip in Arizona.
Sophomore Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) pitched a gem in game two, allowing only two hits and one walk with three strikeouts in the complete-game shutout. He improves to 5-1 with a 3.21 ERA and a .218 opponent batting average in 33.2 innings of work. SJU gained a 1-0 lead in the fourth with an unearned run and added another in the fifth via sacrifice fly from sophomore third baseman Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins). The Johnnies added two more runs, with two outs, in the seventh. Forster smacked an RBI double and Kramer brought him in with an RBI single. Forster was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. SJU only had five hits but left nine on base in the game.
NO SIMMER FOR ZIMMERMAN: Junior Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.) was named the MIAC Pitcher of the Week on April 25, after he pitched a no-hitter in game one's 3-0 victory over Saint Mary's in the Johnnies' MIAC sweep April 21. The no-hitter is the first for SJU since Andy Schneider no-hit St. Olaf in a 10-0 win on April 11, 1998, and is the fourth by a Johnnie under head coach Jerry Haugen's 34-year tenure (ninth in SJU recorded history). 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.
PITCHING KEEPS WINNING STREAK ALIVE: Zimmerman's no-hitter against Saint Mary's April 21 set a trend for the week, as the Johnnie pitching staff combined to post a 1.16 ERA and a .155 opponent batting average in the four victories. SJU struck out 20 batters to just three walks and allowed only one extra-base hit (double) in 31 innings, 25 of which were scoreless. Despite a .273 team batting average in the six-game winning streak, the Johnnie pitching staff has combined for a 1.80 ERA and a .164 opponent batting average with 27 strikeouts and six walks in 45 innings of work.
A LOOK AT THE PIPERS: Hamline enters today's doubleheader having won 10 of its last 11 games. In their most recent series, the Pipers took away a double-header victory against Saint Mary's (5-0, 6-2) on April 15. Leading the Pipers this season is Tony Rogers, who has a team-best .348 batting average (32-92), including a team-high 24 RBI and seven triples. The rest of the team is batting just .268, however. Hamline's pitching staff boasts a combined 4.50 ERA and a .309 opponent batting average. Nine different pitchers have 12 innings of work or more so far this season.
THE LAST MEETING: Last season, Saint John's split a pair of 7-6 games with Hamline on May 1 in St. Anthony. 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 Forster. 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. Junior designated hitter Bert Marsnik (Annandale, Minn.) blasted a three-run homer in the fifth, his second of the season, followed by RBI-singles from Joe Eiden '10 and Skluzacek. Matt Johnson '10 allowed five runs, three earned, in four innings. Kramer entered in the fifth, allowed one run and earned the victory. Zimmerman pitched a scoreless seventh inning for his fifth save of the season. Senior shortstop Matt Butorac (Maple Grove, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Marsnik, Skluzacek and first baseman Kyle Henkemeyer '10 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 third baseman Michael Carr '10 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. Cline struck out the first batter he faced before allowing a single, wild pitch and the game-winning single to take the loss.
