Saint John's returns to conference action with a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader against Macalester today at Saint John's Field in Collegeville.
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Nationally-ranked (Division II) St. Cloud State made the most of its opportunities in a 10-5 win over Saint John's (23-12, 11-5 MIAC) on Monday. Sixteen different Johnnies saw action in the field and six pitchers collaborated on the mound. SJU left 11 men on base, batted 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-9 with two outs on the evening. Both teams tallied a run in the first two innings. The Johnnies manufactured a run without a hit in the first and sophomore Dylan Groves (Mora, Minn.) deposited his third home run of the season over the left-field fence to start the second. SCSU answered with a two-out, RBI single to tie the game in its half of the first two innings. The Huskies added a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth to gain a 6-2 lead. Junior Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) and Graves started the sixth with back-to-back singles before sophomore Luke Larson (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) cut the Johnnies' deficit to 6-5 with a three-run shot to right field. SCSU added two more runs in both the sixth and seventh innings. Junior Adam Wenker (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) took the loss (3-3) for SJU, allowing one run on two hits in two innings of relief. Classmate Scott Schroeder (Richmond, Minn./Rocori) allowed a pair of runs on three hits in two innings, his second start of the season. Freshman Collin Felhaber (North St. Paul, Minn.), sophomore Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska), junior Tony Gazich (Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View) and Graves pitched an inning each. Graves and Forster collected two hits apiece, while Larson's trio of RBI's raised his total to a team-leading 27 on the year.
PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS: SJU needs one win in its final four games to clinch a bid to its third consecutive four-team MIAC Tournament, scheduled for May 11-13 at Minnetonka High School's Veterans Field. Two victories, in any order, would clinch the No. 2 seed.
INOPPORTUNE HITTING: Saint John's has left 46 runners on base, is batting .140 (7-for-50) with runners in scoring position, .216 (11-for-51) with two outs and .226 (19-for-84) with men on base in its last six games (3-3 record). Despite the lack of key hits, SJU went 3-3 thanks to solid pitching performances that combined to allow one unearned run and eight hits in 21 innings for the three wins.
GRAVES GONE WILD: Graves is batting .583 (7-for-12) during a current four-game hit streak, including two doubles and a homer, and has a hit in nine of his last 10 games (.433 average during the 10-game stretch). He leads the team with six doubles, two homers and a .587 slugging percentage in 16 MIAC games.
Z=W: Senior pitcher Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.) allowed an unearned run on five hits with seven strikeouts (two walks) in 10 innings on the mound last week. He pitched the virtual shutout, allowing the unearned run on three hits, in SJU's 3-1 win over St. Olaf in game one April 24. Zimmerman then pitched three innings of scoreless, two-hit relief with five strikeouts against Gustavus April 29. The senior induced 20 groundball outs (four fly-ball outs) on the week and has allowed five hits and no earned runs in his last 12 MIAC innings. Zimmerman currently boasts a 5-2 record with a 1.89 ERA, a .190 opponent batting average and 47 strikeouts (2.94 strikeout/walk ratio) in 57 innings pitched this season.
A LOOK ATHE SCOTS: Macalester (19-18, 9-9 MIAC) settled for a split against Carleton Sunday in Northfield. The Knights bounced back from an 8-2 setback in the opening game to win the second 2-0 on a three-hitter. Nick Mar went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in the opener and the Scots received a pair of hits each from the second, third and fourth batters in the order: Ross Bronfenbrenner, Mitch Glasser and Robert Williams. Nick Meerson scattered 10 hits (stranding 10 base-runners) in game one to boost his record to 9-2 in 65.2 innings pitched (12 appearances, 10 starts). C.J. Smith threw well in the second game, yielding just five hits with no walks in six innings of work. He struck out seven batters, but the Scots managed just three hits and no runs. Smith lowered his ERA to a team-leading 2.82. Williams leads the team in batting average (.417), hits (50), home runs (3), RBI (30) and slugging percentage (.575). Glasser leads the team in runs scored (26) and doubles (11) and is second on the team in hits (41) and RBI (23).
LAST SEASON: Saint John's clinched a berth to the MIAC Tournament with a doubleheader split against Macalester last season. Matt Butorac '11 went 2-for-2 and drove in four of the Johnnies' five runs, while Brett Kramer '11 improved to 4-2 with six shutout innings in game one's 5-0 win. Long pitched a scoreless seventh to seal the win. Macalester posted two unearned runs in the first two innings off junior Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) and edged the Johnnies 3-2 in game two. Graves started the third inning with a blast to right field for his first collegiate home run. Junior Alex Powell (Hopkins, Minn.) followed with a single, then stole second and scored on another Butorac double to tie the game at two apiece. The Scots were held without an extra-base hit the entire day and plunked a total of nine hits in game two, though eight of them were ground balls. The lone hit to the outfield, a sinking liner that dropped in front of a diving Powell, fueled Mac's go-ahead run in the seventh off Long. Mitch Glasser singled with a ground ball through the left side to start the inning and was pinch run for by David Melms. Long struck out the next batter before Garrett Salzman hit the sinking liner to right, advancing Melms to second. Long recorded the second out with a strikeout of C.J. Smith, but Colin Carpenter hit a dribbler through the right side, scoring Melms from second. Cline went six innings, allowing two unearned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and five walks. Powell ended the day 3-for-6 with three runs scored, while Butorac was 3-for-5 with two doubles and five RBI.
Macalester scored three runs in the top of the ninth to eliminate Saint John's 3-1 in the second round of the MIAC Tournament last May 14. Zimmerman dominated Macalester, allowing only three hits over the first eight innings. Mac's Nathan Rubin started the ninth with a walk. His pinch runner advanced to second on a wild pitch and then to third on a groundout to short before tying the game on another wild pitch. Mitch Glasser then followed with a single before Robert Williams hit a two-run homer. SJU totaled eight hits, including three for extra bases, but left eight men on base. The Johnnies batted .125 (1-8) with men in scoring position. Kramer started the seventh with a double, advanced to third on a flyout from Forster, and scored on a triple by Matt Boys '11, the 11th of his career. Eric Robinson recorded a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the win. He entered in relief of Alex Ingram following Boys' RBI triple in the seventh. Kramer and Butorac led SJU with two hits apiece, while Powell added a triple. Zimmerman suffered the frustrating loss, allowing three runs off five hits. He struck out four and walked three.
SERIES HISTORY: Since 1993, SJU owns a 31-8 series lead against Macalester, including a 12-2 record in Collegeville. The Johnnies have won 16 of the last 19 meetings, though the Scots have won each of the last two. All three losses were decided by two runs or less (two by one run).
