The Johnnies continue their Metrodome schedule with a doubleheader against nationally-ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 4:30 p.m. today.
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (2-2 overall) offense came alive in a late-night, doubleheader sweep of Edgewood (Wis.), 10-5 and 2-1, March 1-2 at the Metrodome. The Eagles jumped on senior Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) for three runs on four hits in the first inning of game one, and added an unearned run in the second to gain an early 4-0 lead. SJU snapped a streak of 20 scoreless innings to start the 2013 season with five unearned runs, all with two outs, in the bottom of the third. A RBI single from Cline put SJU on the scoreboard and consecutive hits from junior Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) and Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) cut the Johnnies' deficit to 4-2. Senior Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) gave the Johnnies the lead with a three-run homer to left field on the first pitch he saw. Back-to-back RBI doubles from Cline and Graves, and an RBI single from sophomore Kurt Jantscher (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong), increased SJU's lead to 8-4 in the fourth. The Johnnies plated two more unearned runs in the fifth. Cline handled the rest, holding EC hitless after the first inning and finished with seven strikeouts in five innings of work to earn the win (1-1 record). Senior Scott Schroeder (Richmond, Minn./Rocori) allowed a harmless run in two innings of relief. Cline, Graves, Jantscher and junior Tony Gazich (Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View) all finished with two hits.
Junior Josh Groth (Eagan, Minn.) started the second inning of game two with a leadoff double and scored on a sacrifice fly from classmate Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) to give SJU a 1-0 lead. Graves made it 2-0 with an RBI double, his second of the doubleheader, in the third inning. Senior Ryan Spengler (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) cruised through 4.2 innings on 38 pitches, without allowing an Edgewood hit, before the Eagles chipped away for three straight two-out hits and a run to cut it to 2-1. Graves made a spectacular diving catch to record the second out of the fifth before sophomore Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) ended the inning, with runners on first and third, with a diving grab of his own in the left-center gap. Spengler allowed the lone run on five hits with five strikeouts, and no walks, in six innings to earn the win (1-0 record). Long struck out the side in the seventh inning to earn his first save of the season.
BETTER PERFORMANCE: SJU bounced back from Feb. 25's season opener, in which it batted only .067 (1-for-15) with runners in scoring position and .111 (3-for-27) with runners on base, to post a .342 (13-for-38) average with runners on base and .320 (8-for-25) mark with runners in scoring position in the sweep of Edgewood. The Johnnies also batted .417 (10-for-24) with two outs and held Edgewood to only one stolen base on four attempts.
3: Long had an eventful evening, and early morning, in the late-night sweep March 1. Down 4-0 after two innings, Long capped the Johnnies' five-run third inning with a three-run homer, the first of his collegiate career, in game one's 10-5 win. He received makeshift stitches on his shin between games, after being spiked while turning the game-ending double play, and went 1-for-3 in game two. Long saved his best for last by striking out the side to earn his first save of the season in the 2-1 victory.
SWIPERS: The Johnnies stole eight bases (8-for-8) in the doubleheader sweep of Edgewood (Wis.) March 1. SJU only stole 28 bases (28-for-36) in 45 games last spring.
A LOOK AT THE POINTERS: Wisconsin-Stevens Point (2-0 overall) opened its 2013 season with a sweep of Gustavus Adolphus, 10-6 and 14-5, late last night (March 10) at the Metrodome. The Pointers scored six runs in the second inning of game one and overcame a 4-2 deficit with eight runs in the fourth inning of game two. UWSP finished third in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) last year with a 15-9 record (27-15 overall), but lost both games of the conference tournament to Wisconsin-Whitewater (4-2) and Wisconsin-Oshkosh (5-3). Junior Ryan Schilter returns at catcher for the Pointers and was named to the D3baseball.com Preseason All-America first team. He led the WIAC in doubles (19) and stolen bases (22) while leading the team in batting (.370), RBI (36), total bases (86) and slugging percentage (.531). Junior outfielder Casey Barnes also returns after finishing second on the team in hitting (.359), doubles (16), triples (2), home runs (2) and slugging percentage (.529). Junior Max Frederick is expected to lead the UWSP pitching staff, which led the conference in team ERA last year (3.21). He went 4-2 last season and was second on the team in both innings pitched (57) and strikeouts (47).
NATIONAL RANKINGS: SJU received votes in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division III Preseason poll released in December, while Stevens Point was ranked No. 25.
