Saint John's plays host to Augsburg for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader today (Monday, May 6) at Saint John's Field in Collegeville.
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (15-14, 6-8 MIAC) split a doubleheader with Gustavus Adolphus on May 5 in Collegeville. Senior Ryan Spengler (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) threw a complete-game shutout in game one's 1-0 nine-inning win before the Gusties erupted for 11 runs and 13 hits in game two's 11-3 loss. Only three batted balls, either a hit or out, left the infield for the Gusties off Spengler, who improved to 5-0 with the victory for SJU. He struck out five and walked three in the duel against fellow southpaw Grant Soderberg of GAC.
Junior Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) started the bottom of the ninth with an infield single off Soderberg's shin and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from senior Alex Powell (Hopkins, Minn.). Senior Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) won the 12-pitch battle with a double down the left-field line, scoring Graves from second for the game-winning run.
Game two was chock full of statistical oddities, demonstrating the age-old line of “that's why they play the games.” Gustavus entered the second game of the doubleheader batting .239 as a team, but tripled its hit total from game one in only four innings en route to the win. Scott Benjamin and Max Fidler entered the contest batting a combined .241 (38-for-158) on the season but finished 7-for-9 with four RBI and three runs scored.
Senior Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) broke the 9-0 shutout with a two-run homer, his third of the season, off the Gusties' Kellan Euerle in the sixth inning. Back-to-back doubles from sophomores Brett Becker (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) and Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) tallied another run in the inning, but GAC responded with two unearned runs in the top of the seventh. Euerle entered the start, his third of the season, with a 6.00 ERA and a .408 opponent batting average but held the Johnnies to four hits through five. SJU left the bases loaded in the first and third innings.
Senior Scott Schroeder (Richmond, Minn./Rocori) took the loss, allowing seven runs on six hits in 2.1 innings. Classmate Adam Wenker (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) allowed four runs, two earned, in 4.2 innings of relief.
STRUGGLING BATS: SJU's leadoff hitter only reached three times on the day (3-for-16, .188) against Gustavus and the Johnnie bats were only 3-for-15 (.200) with runners in scoring position.
HOME RUN LIST: Forster's two-run bomb in game two against the Gusties was his third of the season and 10th of his career, placing him in a tie with Andy Auger (1993-95) and Chris Palmer (1994-96) for 10th on the Johnnies' all-time list. Graves is currently close behind with nine.
NEED THREE WINS, AT LEAST: The Johnnies need three wins in their final four MIAC games to reach the .500 mark (9-9 record) and contend for the new six-team MIAC Tournament format. Since SJU, among others, will not be able to play all 10 MIAC doubleheaders (20 games) before this weekend's conference tournament, the league has changed the format from a four-team double-elimination tournament to a six-team, single-elimination playoff held at Veteran's Field in Minnetonka. The six bids will be based on MIAC winning percentage. St. Thomas enters today's games in first at 15-1 (.938), followed by Gustavus Adolphus (9-5, .643); Augsburg (7-5, .583); and four-way tie at .500 between Bethel, Concordia-Moorhead, Hamline and Saint Mary's.
A LOOK AT THE AUGGIES: Augsburg (19-10, 7-5 MIAC) returned to action with a pair of eight-inning losses to Saint Mary's, 7-5 and 2-0, at St. Thomas May 5. The Auggies begin a stretch of eight games in four days today in Collegeville: vs. Bethel (May 7), vs. Gustavus (May 8) and at St. Olaf (May 9). Senior Ryan Sward leads the team in batting (.407), hits (44), doubles (10), triples (3) and RBI (36). The Auggies are batting .330 as a team (.324 in MIAC play). Senior Eren Cur leads the pitching staff with a 5-1 record and a 2.28 ERA in 43.1 innings.
LAST YEAR AT THE DOME: The bats came alive for Saint John's in game two of the Johnnies' doubleheader split with Augsburg in the regular-season finale for both teams on last May 7 at the Metrodome. The Johnnies hit the ball hard but mustered only two hits in game one's 2-1 loss before pounding out nine hits, five for extra bases, in a 4-2 victory in the nightcap. A leadoff walk came back to bite Spengler as the Auggies gained an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of game one. Augsburg added another run in the fifth, but like the first inning, Spengler induced a double play to end the inning and avoid a crooked number on the scoreboard. Pfaff followed a leadoff walk of classmate Brett Becker with a single through the right side to end Eren Cur's no-hit bid in the top of the sixth inning. Both advanced on a wild pitch before senior Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) brought in Becker with a sacrifice fly. Junior Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) started the seventh with a single but was called out on a close play at second base in the result of junior Luke Larson's (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) sac bunt attempt. Junior Josh Groth (Fridley, Minn.) nearly gave SJU a 3-2 lead with a go-ahead, two-run homer but the deep fly barely went foul down the left-field line. AUG's Tanner Oakes took advantage of the long strike by tallying two groundouts to end the threat. Spengler took the loss, allowing the two runs on seven hits. He struck out four and walked three to fall to 5-3 (3-1 MIAC) on the year.
The Johnnies started right away in game two, thanks to a leadoff triple from Pfaff and another sac fly from Cline to take an early 1-0 lead. Becker doubled to start the third before the Auggies' Ryan Mestnik struck out Pfaff and Cline. Forster and Graves blasted back-to-back home runs, their third and fourth of the season, respectively, to give SJU a 4-0 lead. Augsburg answered with a run off Schroeder in its half of the third, and tallied another on an inside-the-park homer off Cline in the sixth. Schroeder improved to 3-0 in his third start of the season, allowing one run on five hits with two strikeouts in five innings of work. Long pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to earn his ninth save of the season and seventh in conference play. Mestnik took the loss after allowing all four runs and five extra-base hits for Augsburg. He entered the game with an 8-1 record with a 1.78 ERA and a .194 opponent batting average.
SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 9-9 against the Auggies since 2003, but just 3-5 during that span in Collegeville. Two of the five losses were decided by one run in extra innings.
