Saint John's returns home to host Bethel this Saturday, April 14. Game one is scheduled for 1 p.m. at St. John's Field in Collegeville.
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (16-8, 4-2 MIAC) entered Tuesday's doubleheader at St. Thomas batting .325 (76-234) with runners in scoring position and .299 (66-221) with two outs but went 0-for-12 and 0-for-15 in the two categories, respectively, as the Tommies completed the sweep (3-1, 5-0). The Tommies scored all three runs in game one on two-out, infield singles off senior Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.). The Johnnies tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the fourth inning. Junior Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) recorded a one-out single, advanced to third and scored on a sacrifice fly from senior Bert Marsnik (Annandale, Minn.). Zimmerman fell to 3-2 on the year, despite retiring 14 consecutive batters. He allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits with three strikeouts and one walk in six innings of work. St. Thomas broke a scoreless tie with three runs off of Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) in the bottom of the fifth of game two. Cline allowed three runs on six hits to take the loss (4-3). He struck out seven and walked two in five innings pitched. Sophomore Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) struck out the only batter he faced to escape the Tommies' bases-loaded threat in the sixth.
NATIONAL STAT RANKINGS: Through games of April 9, SJU is ranked eighth out of 364 NCAA Division III schools in hits allowed per nine innings with an average of 7.19 per game. The Johnnies' pitching staff is also ranked 17th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.4) and 19th in earned run average (2.78). Junior Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) is ranked 18th in saves made with five on the year.
SPENGLER: Junior Ryan Spengler (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) enters his expected start Saturday with a 1.29 ERA, .125 opponent batting average and 20 strikeouts in his last 21 innings pitched.
WAKEUP CALL: SJU is 4-2 in the MIAC despite batting only .212 in six conference games so far this season. The dreadful average, however, includes Cline's .421 (8-for-19) performance at the plate. The rest of the team is batting .185 (28-for-151).
A LOOK AT THE ROYALS: Bethel (14-9, 5-3 MIAC) lost two one-run games to Macalester, 6-5 and 5-4, on Tuesday after winning eight of its last nine previous games. Jesse Nickols and Nick Anderson each collected one RBI to tie the game 4-4. Matt Rowley singled in the go-ahead RBI in the top of the ninth before Macalester scored two runs to earn the walk-off victory. In game two, the Royals rallied from a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead before falling 5-4 to the Scots. Rowley and David Freed each went 2-for-4, while Nickols went 2-for-3 with a double. Rowley gave up five runs on 10 hits and struck out five in six innings of work in the loss. Rowley currently leads the Royals in pitching with 34 strikeouts, six walks and an ERA of 2.82 in 44 innings pitched this season. Offensively, Rowley leads the team in batting average (.439), hits (36), RBI (26) and slugging percentage (.659).
THE LAST MEETING: Saint John's opened its 2011 MIAC season with a doubleheader split at Bethel last April 5 (2011). SJU won the first game 6-1 before dropping game two, 15-9. Cline gave SJU a 1-0 lead in game one with an RBI single in the third inning. The Johnnies added five runs in the sixth inning. Matt Boys '11 smacked an RBI double before Andrew Hengel '11 and junior Alex Powell (Hopkins, Minn.) added back-to-back RBI singles. Brian Skluzacek '11 added an RBI single to cap the scoring. Cline finished the game 3-for-4. Brett Kramer '11 earned the complete-game win allowing one run on seven hits and striking out six. SJU took an early 5-0 lead in the first inning of game two. Forster and Powell each recorded RBI singles, while Hengel hit a sacrifice fly. Bethel tied the game at five in the bottom half of the inning. The Johnnies regained the lead in the second with an RBI double from Matt Butorac '11 before the Royals took the lead in the bottom half of the inning. St. John's again regained the lead in the third with a pair of RBI doubles from Hengel and Skluzacek. Bethel tied it at 9-9 with a run in the bottom half of the inning and added five more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Zimmerman took the loss for SJU, allowing 12 runs on 10 hits. He walked five and struck out three in three innings of work.
SERIES HISTORY: Since 1991, SJU is 25-15 overall against Bethel, including a 12-6 record in Collegeville.
