Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's took advantage of Macalester's miscues in a doubleheader sweep of the Scots, 10-6 and 4-3, on Friday, May 3, in Collegeville.
The Johnnies (14-13, 5-7 MIAC) were the visiting team in both games, despite the home-field, after the doubleheader was moved to Collegeville due to poor field conditions in St. Paul.
SJU gained a 7-0 lead with seven unearned runs with two outs in the top of the second inning thanks to a sacrifice fly from senior Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan), followed by a walk and four consecutive hits. Macalester (9-22, 2-10 MIAC), however, answered with six runs on five hits in the bottom half of the inning.
A one-out double by Long in the third and RBI singles from freshman Logan Hershey (Maple Grove, Minn.) and sophomore Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) tacked on two more runs. Junior Luke Larson (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) started the fifth with a triple and scored on a passed ball to end the scoring for both teams.
Senior Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) earned the win, his first since April 21, 2011. He allowed six runs, three earned, on seven hits in six innings of work. Junior Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) allowed a hit and walked one with two strikeouts in a scoreless seventh.
Pfaff started game two with a leadoff single and scored on a wild pitch to give SJU an early 1-0 lead.
Mac manufactured a run in the third inning to tie it at 1-1 before the Johnnies answered with three in the top of the fifth. Hershey and sophomore Brett Becker (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) started the inning with back-to-back singles. The Scots' third baseman threw Pfaff's sacrifice-bunt attempt into their own bullpen, scoring both baserunners. Pfaff, who advanced to third on the play, scored on senior Connor Cline's (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) sac fly in the next at-bat.
The Scots chipped away with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Nick Sia singled to the shortstop and Jimmy Belfont doubled over the head of Becker in right to start the bottom half-inning. With runners on first and second, Tom Forster made it 4-2 with a groundout to first base and Nick Mar brought in Belfont with a sac fly.
Cline improved to 2-4 on the year with the win, allowing the three runs on six hits in six innings. Long cruised through the seventh inning with two strikeouts to tally his fourth save of the season.
Pfaff ended the day 3-for-7 with three runs scored and two RBI, while Hershey and junior Tony Gazich (Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View) recorded two hits apiece. Pfaff is now 11-for-20 (.550) with seven runs scored in his last six games.
SJU is now 13-1 in its last 14 games against the Scots in Collegeville (since 1999).
The Johnnies are scheduled to host Gustavus Adolphus, weather permitting, for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, May 4, in Collegeville. If the forecast stays true to form and the doubleheader is moved to 1 p.m. Sunday, May 5, SJU's rescheduled doubleheader against St. Olaf scheduled for that day would be canceled.
