Saint John's (19-12, 13-7 MIAC) makes its second consecutive trip to the four-team, double-elimination MIAC Tournament this Friday, May 13, against St. Thomas (23-14, 16-4 MIAC). The nine-inning contest is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Veteran's Field in Minnetonka. All of SJU's games will be broadcast live on WBHR-660 AM and streamed on www.gojohnnies.com. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Watch Live | MIAC Tournament Website

ADMISSION: Tickets are $7 for adult and $3 for any student (five years old and younger are free). There is no senior discount. MIAC Passes will be honored. No other passes will be accepted.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's clinched its MIAC Tournament with a doubleheader split against Macalester in its home and regular-season finale May 7 in Collegeville. Senior shortstop Matt Butorac (Maple Grove, Minn.) went 2-for-2 and drove in four of the Johnnies' five runs, while fellow senior Brett Kramer (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) improved to 4-2 with six shutout innings in game one's 5-0 win. Macalester posted two unearned runs off sophomore Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) edged the Johnnies 3-2 in game two. The win snapped a nine-game losing streak to SJU and was the first for the Scots in Collegeville since May 4, 1996. Butorac gave SJU an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first and brought in another with a sac fly in the third. He padded the Johnnies' lead with a two-out, two-run double in the fifth. The double was the 40th of his career. SJU added an unearned run in the sixth thanks to an RBI triple by senior second baseman Andrew Hengel (Bemidji, Minn.). The rest was all Kramer. He allowed three hits and struck out six with two walks in six innings of work. He now has a 0.00 ERA with 16 strikeouts and a .194 opponent batting average in 20 innings against Macalester. Kramer enters the postseason boasting a 3-0 record and a 0.95 ERA in 38 MIAC innings (4-2 with a 1.49 ERA in 54.1 innings overall). Freshman Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) pitched a scoreless seventh to seal the win and punch SJU's ticket to the postseason tournament. Macalester scored an unearned run in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead in the nightcap. Freshman outfielder Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) started the third inning with a blast to right field for his first collegiate home run. Sophomore outfielder Alex Powell (Hopkins, Minn.) followed with a single, stole second and scored on another Butorac double to tie the game at two apiece. Cline went six innings, allowing two unearned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and five walks. He now has a 4-0 record with a 2.90 ERA in 31 MIAC innings (6-1 record with a 2.31 ERA in 46.2 innings overall). Long took the loss, falling to 3-2 on the year. The earned run was just his second allowed in conference play (15 innings). Powell ended the day 3-for-6 with three runs scored, while Butorac was 3-for-5 with two doubles and five RBI to extend his current hit streak to 10 games.

A LOOK AT THE TOMMIES: St. Thomas (23-14, 16-4 MIAC) swept Saint Mary's to gain at least a share of the MIAC title this past weekend. The Tommies have won 19 of their last 23 games, including wins in each of their last 12 MIAC games following a 4-4 start. Against SMU, the Tommies were led by freshman catcher J.D. Dorgan, who went 5-for-7 on the day and posted one walk. Senior pitcher Kris Edwards posted his seventh career save in game two. The Tommies have six players batting over .300 and are led by Dorgan, who is batting .398 (39-98) on the season. He has recorded eight doubles, a team-high four home runs, 22 runs scored, 27 RBI and a .643 slugging percentage. Edwards leads the pitching staff with a 3.42 ERA in 52.2 innings pitched with 54 strikeouts.

EARLIER THIS SEASON: Much like their doubleheaders against the other two teams in the MIAC Tournament, the Johnnies hosted St. Thomas for their home opener April 6 in Collegeville. The Tommies, backed by the arm of Edwards, won the first game 5-0 before SJU came back to win game two, 6-5. SJU erased a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the first of game two. Seniors Eric Smith (Rogers, Minn.) and Brian Skluzacek (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) each singled and Cline moved them up a base with a sacrifice bunt. Butorac belted a two-run triple to right centerfield. Butorac then scored on a bloop single from junior Luke Sweeter (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen). UST tied the game with a run in the second and regained the lead at 4-3 with another in the fourth. The Johnnies tied the game with an unearned run via RBI single from Powell in the bottom half of the inning. The Tommies took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the fifth before SJU added two runs in its half of the inning. Sophomore Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) drove in Skluzacek with an RBI single and Cline scored on a fielder's choice. Cline allowed five runs on nine hits to earn the win. Long pitched two innings of scoreless relief, including a 1-2-3 seventh versus the heart of UST's lineup, to earn his first career save.

The Johnnies mustered only two hits in game one as Edwards pitched a complete-game shutout for UST, striking out seven with no walks. Cline and Hengel tallied a single each for SJU. UST jumped on Forster with three runs on four hits in the top of the first and added two more in the fifth. He fell to 1-1 on the season, allowing all five runs on nine hits. Long and sophomore Scott Schroeder (Richmond, Minn./Rocori) posted an inning of scoreless relief each.

POSTSEASON SERIES: The Johnnies are 1-4 (1-3 MIAC Tournament) all-time against St. Thomas in postseason play. SJU's lone playoff victory was a 5-2 decision in the 2003 conference tournament. The Tommies eliminated SJU with a 5-0 win in last year's tournament.

SJU VS. HAMLINE: Saint John's jumped out to early leads in both games but settled for a split with Hamline on April 28 in Collegeville. The Johnnies scored five runs in the first two innings en route to a 5-2 win in game one, but lost a 3-0 lead by allowing six unearned runs (nine total) in game two's 9-3 loss. Cline smashed his first collegiate home run, a three-run shot, in the first inning of game one. Junior Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.) controlled the Pipers for most of the game. Jordan Buck plunked a two-out, two-run double in the fifth for Hamline. Zimmerman improved to 2-3 on the year, allowing both runs on five hits with six strikeouts and four walks. Long tallied a 1-2-3 seventh for his fourth save of the season.

SJU manufactured a run in the second and two more in the third, on a total of two hits, in game two. Things began to unravel for SJU in the next half inning. The strike zone shrunk for Forster in the top half of the fourth as the first two Piper batters walked. Andy King reached to load the bases after Forster attempted to throw out the runner at third on his sacrifice bunt attempt. Ben Richardson hit a tailor-made double-play ball to second base, but the ball hit King for the first out of the inning. Dan Ellefson followed with another tailor-made double-play ball, but it hopped over Butorac's glove into left field, scoring two runs. J.D. Modrynski plated another run with a sacrifice fly and Cory Miller brought in another with an RBI single. He was thrown out at second attempting to stretch it into a double. Three of the inning's four runs were unearned. Hamline increased its lead to 6-3 with a two-out, two-run homer. Graves scaled the wall in left field but the ball hit off his glove and over. The Pipers ended the scoring with three unearned runs in the seventh. Forster took the loss, allowing six runs (three earned) on six hits. He walked four and struck out two. Sophomore Scott Schroeder (Richmond, Minn./Rocori) surrendered all three unearned runs in 0.2 innings. Sophomore Adam Wenker (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) induced a fly ball to end the seventh. The appearance was Wenker's first since suffering a twisted intestine while on the spring break trip in Arizona.

BUTORAC KEEPS GOING, EARNS MIAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: Butorac 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).

PITCHERS LEAD THE WAY: SJU currently leads the MIAC (conference games only) with a 3.45 team ERA and could very well lead the league in that category for the first time since 1994 (pending Macalester's doubleheader at Concordia May 10, SJU leads the Scots by 0.36). The staff is led by the 1-2 punch of Kramer and Cline. Kramer allowed three hits and struck out six with two walks in six shutout innings against Macalester Saturday. He now has a 0.00 ERA with 16 strikeouts and a .194 opponent batting average in 20 career innings against the Scots. Kramer enters the postseason boasting a 3-0 record and a 0.95 ERA in 38 MIAC innings (4-2 with a 1.49 ERA in 54.1 innings overall). Kramer is currently third in school history with 139 career strikeouts and sixth with 174.2 innings pitched.

Cline, meanwhile, enters the MIAC Tournament riding a 20-inning streak without an earned run allowed. He totes a 6-1 record with a 2.31 ERA and a team-best .225 opponent batting average in 46.2 innings, including a 4-0 record with a 2.90 ERA in 31 MIAC innings.

The bullpen, led by Long, was the silent weapon for the Johnnies in league play. Long recorded a 1.20 ERA with four saves, 14 strikeouts and only one walk in 15 innings of relief (10 appearances). As a whole, the bullpen collected a 1.35 ERA with 19 strikeouts, four walks and a .265 opponent batting average in 26.2 MIAC innings.