Saint John's (16-6, 4-0 MIAC) travels to take on nationally-ranked St. Thomas (18-4, 6-0 MIAC) for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader today in St. Paul. - Live Video (Channel 3)
Preview Video:
-Head coach Jerry Haugen (3:02)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's hit four home runs, three with two outs, in a doubleheader sweep of Concordia-Moorhead this past Saturday in Collegeville. Sophomore Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) hit two homers and drove in four of the Johnnies' five runs in game one's 5-3 victory. Sophomore Josh Groth (Fridley, Minn.) hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh of game two. The game went on for another five innings until junior Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) smacked a walkoff home run to give SJU a 7-6 win in game two.
The Johnnies tallied an early 1-0 lead in game one with an unearned run in the first inning. Concordia tied it at 1-1 with an unearned run of its own in the third. Graves put the home team ahead, 2-1, with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the fourth, though the Cobbers would tie the game once again with another unearned run in the top of the fifth. Graves came through once again with a three-run shot in the bottom half of the inning. All three runs were unearned. Junior Ryan Spengler (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) allowed three runs, one earned, on four hits in six innings of work. He posted three strikeouts and three walks to improve to 3-2 on the season. Spengler now boasts a 1.48 ERA and a .145 opponent batting average in 24.1 innings this season. Graves and junior Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) recorded two hits apiece for the Johnnies. Long pitched a scoreless seventh to earn his fifth save of the year (school-record ninth of his career).
The Johnnies jumped out to another early, this time 3-0, in the first inning of game two. Freshman Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) started the game with a single and scored on a double from Long. Cline brought him in with a sacrifice fly and junior Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) scored on an error. CC's Brian Guler cut the deficit to 3-2 with a two-out, two-run double in the third. Sophomore Luke Larson (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) answered with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning, however, making it 4-2 in favor of SJU. Concordia scored the next four runs to take a 6-4 lead into the bottom half of the seventh inning. Michael Olson tied the game with a two-run single in the fifth and the Cobbers added two more in the top half of the seventh. Cline reached on an error, which could have been the final out of the game, in the seventh. Groth followed with a deep blast to left field, on a 3-1 pitch, for his first collegiate home run.
The shift in momentum didn't last long, however, as Concordia loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the eighth. Braden Rahman singled to start the inning and Brad Olson walked, forcing SJU head coach Jerry Haugen to pull freshman Collin Felhaber (North St. Paul, Minn.) in favor of junior Scott Schroeder (Richmond, Minn./Rocori). Schroeder intentionally-walked Michael Olson to load the bases, but forced Guler to foul out to the catcher. He then proceeded to strike out Chris Gilson and Johnson grounded into a fielder's choice to leave the scoreboard tied at 6-6.
The Cobbers threatened again in the top of the 10th. Rahman started the inning with a single, his fifth hit of the game, advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on a sac bunt. Schroeder, however, induced a groundout to third base and a flyout to left to end inning. Rahman looked to have his sixth hit of the game in the 12th, but Graves galloped into the right-center gap, made the catch and doubled up Jordan Doschadis at first base to end the inning. Long struck out and Forster fouled out to the catcher on a 2-0 pitch to start the bottom half of the 12th. Cline jumped on a 3-2 pitch for the walkoff home run, his first of the season and third of his career.
Schroeder threw five scoreless innings to improve to 2-0 on the season. He struck out one and allowed only two hits after the Cobbers amassed 13 through the game's first seven innings. Schroeder now touts a 0.00 ERA with a .143 opponent batting average in 13 innings this season. Junior Adam Wenker (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings, while Felhaber surrendered two runs on six hits in two innings of relief. Cline ended the game 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Forster was 2-for-6.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Cline batted .538 (7-for-13), including a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 12th in the 7-6 win over Concordia (April 7), as the Johnnies posted its first 4-0 start in the MIAC since 2007 last week. The rest of the team batted .216 (24-for-111) in the four games. He went 3-for-4 with an RBI as the designated hitter in the 7-5 win over Carleton before taking the mound in game two, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts to improve to 4-2 on the season (3.44 ERA, .214 opp. BA, 36.2 IP). Cline went 4-for-9 (.444) with three runs scored and two RBI in the sweep of Concordia Saturday, his first two starts at first base since last season. He jumped on a 3-2 pitch for the two-out, walkoff home run in game two, his first of the season and third of his career. Cline is batting .429 (12-for-28) in his last eight games in the lineup.
WALKOFF WINNER: Cline's home run is the first walkoff homer in Collegeville since Casey Haugen's game-winning grand slam against Carleton on April 29, 2007. Down 5-3 entering the bottom of the seventh, SJU scored six times to win 9-5.
QUALITY CLOSER: Long became the Johnnies' all-time save leader with three saves in three relief appearances as SJU jumped out to a 4-0 record in conference play last week. He broke the record with two saves against Carleton Wednesday and earned his fifth save (ninth of his career) in game one against the Cobbers Saturday. All five of his earned runs allowed came in two outings (5.1 IP) in Arizona. He has allowed only one hit with nine strikeouts and four walks in his other six relief appearances in Minnesota (7.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 saves). Long currently boasts a 2.27 ERA with a .226 opponent batting average and a 4.43 strikeout/walk ratio in 20 career relief appearances.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: SJU received votes in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division III baseball poll released today, April 10. The last time the Johnnies received votes or were ranked in the ABCA poll occurred during the 2005 season (No. 26 during a two-week stretch from April 11-25). The ranking seemed to be an omen, however, as SJU fell from 12-6 (5-1 MIAC) to 14-14 (7-7 MIAC) during the two-week span. The Tommies are ranked No. 5 according to D3baseball.com (April 9) and No. 7 by the ABCA.
A LOOK AT THE TOMMIES: No. 7 St. Thomas ran its current winning streak to nine games with a doubleheader sweep, 3-0 and 4-3, against Saint Mary's yesterday (April 9) afternoon. Senior left-hander Bryce Gapinksi threw a four-hit shutout and retired the last 11 batters he faced in the 3-0 victory. SMU out-hit the Tommies 7-6 in game two but UST rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to claim a 4-3 win and extend its MIAC regular-season win streak to 18 games. The Johnnies will likely face a pair of first-year transfers for UST, sophomore (2009 Holy Angels grad) Steve Maher and junior Dylan Thomas. Maher (Iowa Central C.C. and Division I Illinois State) is 7-0 with a 1.30 ERA, 41 strikeouts and a .181 opponent batting average in 41.2 innings pitched. Thomas (Des Moines Area C.C.), meanwhile, is 2-2 with a 4.66 ERA in 29 innings of work. The pitching staff touts a 2.47 ERA and a .237 opponent batting average with a 4.41 strikeout/walk ratio (150-34). Freshman outfielder Ben Podobinski, a 2009 graduate of Roseville Area H.S., leads the team in batting average (.390), runs (20), hits (30) and stolen bases (13).
LAST YEAR: Saint John's split a doubleheader with St. Thomas for its home opener last April 6 in Collegeville. The Tommies, backed by the arm of Kris 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 in game two. Eric Smith '11 and Brian Skluzacek '11 each singled and Cline moved them up a base with a sacrifice bunt. Matt Butorac '11 then belted a two-run triple to right centerfield and scored on a single. 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 junior Alex Powell (Hopkins, Minn.) 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. Forster drove in Skluzacek with an RBI single and Cline scored on a fielder's choice. Cline improved to 3-1 on the year after allowing five runs on nine hits. 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 Andrew Hengel '11 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 Schroeder posted an inning of scoreless relief each.
