Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Both teams exchanged walk-off wins in a split between Saint John's and eighth-ranked Buena Vista (Iowa) in a late-night doubleheader Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Metrodome.

Sophomore Luke Larson (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) capped a two-out, three-run bottom of the seventh with a two-run single to give SJU (2-2, 0-0 MIAC) a 3-2 victory in game one. Buena Vista (1-1, 0-0 IIAC), meanwhile, broke a scoreless tie with a game-winning single in the bottom of the eighth inning of game two.

Junior Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) started the seventh-inning rally with a leadoff walk, but was thrown out at second on a fielder's choice off the bat of senior Bert Marsnik (Annandale, Minn.). Marsnik advanced to second on a single from senior Jimmy Loonan (Waseca, Minn.), but a strikeout in the next at-bat placed the Johnnies within one out of defeat.

Sophomore Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) jumped on the first pitch and put SJU on the scoreboard with an RBI single. A passed ball moved Loonan and freshman Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral), a pinch runner for Thompson, to third and second base, respectively. Larson then laced a 1-1 pitch to left-center for the bases-clearing win.

The Beavers plated both runs off senior Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.) on a pair of hits on 0-2 counts in the sixth inning. Zimmerman went six innings in the no-decision outing. Junior Adam Wenker (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) pitched a scoreless seventh inning to earn his first collegiate win.

SJU outhit BVU 5-2 in game two but left seven men on base and batted 1-or-7 with runners in scoring position. The loss spoiled a seven-inning one-hitter from junior Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson). He struck out five and walked one in the no decision. Junior Ryan Spengler (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) took the loss, allowing two walks in a shrunken strike zone with two wild pitches in a third of an inning.

Freshman Billy Gregg (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) went 2-for-3 at the plate in game two.

Cline and Zimmerman each have a 1.80 ERA in 10 innings on the mound this season. Cline, however, leads the team with eight strikeouts and a .091 opponent batting average.

BVU was ranked as high as eighth in the 2012 Collegiate Baseball preseason poll released in December (13th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association/D3baseball.com preseason poll). The Beavers won the NCAA Central Regional and finished with a 34-18 record last season, including a 2-2 mark at the Division III College World Series.

The Johnnies return to the diamond with next week's spring trip in Tucson, Ariz. SJU opens the grueling eight-game schedule over four days (March 5-8) with a doubleheader against Bethany Lutheran on Monday, March 5.