Saint John's ends its regular season with a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader today (Tuesday, May 7) against Carleton at Saint John's Field in Collegeville. - Listen Live (KJNB)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (17-14, 8-8 MIAC) improved its chances for a MIAC-Tournament bid with a pair of walk-off wins over Augsburg on May 6 in Collegeville. After Augsburg gained a 7-6 lead in the top of the ninth of game one, senior Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) drilled a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence, his second home run of the day. The Johnnies then loaded the bases before junior Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) drove a single over the right fielder's head for the game-winning run, 8-7. The Johnnies responded from an early 2-0 deficit in game two with two runs in the fifth before senior Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) smoked the first pitch he saw for a walkoff homer, with two outs, for the 3-2 win.
SJU built a 2-0 lead through two innings in game one on an RBI single from junior Luke Larson (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) in the first and a solo shot from Forster in the second. Augsburg tied it at 2-2 in the third and gained a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth before SJU swung the lead back in its favor with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) started the inning with a single and advanced to third on a failed pickoff throw. He scored on a groundout by junior Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska). Forster followed with a single and sophomore Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) walked with two outs before Cline laced a two-run double to the gap in left-center. The Auggies posted three runs on three hits in the sixth. Long relieved Cline, who made his eighth start of the season on two-day's rest, with the bases loaded and nobody out. He induced a run-producing double play before striking out Adam Carl looking to end the inning. Sophomore Brett Becker (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) tied the game with a sac fly in the bottom half of the inning. Thompson was hit by a pitch to start the inning and advanced to third, like Long two innings prior, by a failed pickoff throw that went wide of the bag into the visitor's bullpen. With two outs and a runner on second in the top of the seventh, Augsburg's Zach Pavlisick singled to left but Pfaff gunned down Lou LaChapelle at the plate to end the inning.
Cline allowed six runs on 12 hits in five innings. Long allowed two hits with one strikeout in two innings before Forster came in to earn the win. He allowed one run on three hits with four strikeouts in two innings. Graves went 3-for-5, while Forster went 3-for-4 with the two home runs and three runs scored, as well as the pitching victory.
Forster went back out to the hill for game two, but Gordon Kappers' two-run homer gave the visitors an early 2-0 lead in the first. Unlike the 17-hit barrage in game one, however, the Auggies were held to five hits in game two and only one baserunner made it to second base safely after the first inning. Forster started his own rally with an infield single in the fifth and came around to score on Pfaff's one-out triple. Cline brought him in on a single in the next at-bat to tie the game at 2-2.
Thompson earned the win, allowing only one hit with three strikeouts (one walk) in 3.1 innings of relief. Forster allowed two runs on four hits in 3.2 innings. Cline led the SJU attack with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate, including the game-winning home run. Each Johnnie in the lineup but one tallied a hit.
WALK-OFF WINS: The Johnnies have four walk-off wins this season, and three in their last four games, the most since they tallied four during the 2007 season.
A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Carleton (15-17, 5-11 MIAC) returns to action today after sweeping Macalester in a pair of one-run games, 5-4 and 4-3, May 5 in St. Paul. Freshman catcher Hayden Tsutsui leads the Knights in nearly every batting category: average (.465), hits (59), doubles (11), home runs (3) and RBI (35). Carleton is currently batting .321 as a team with 79 extra-base hits, but just .274 in MIAC play. The Knights' pitching staff has a 5.56 ERA (6.89 in MIAC play) and a .317 opponent batting average.
LAST YEAR IN NORTHFIELD: Saint John's opened its MIAC schedule with a sweep at Carleton, 7-5 and 3-2, and head coach Jerry Haugen earned his 650th career win last March 4 (2012) in Northfield. In addition, Long became the school's all-time save leader (8) with a pair against the Knights. SJU jumped out to a 6-0 lead in game one with three runs each in the third and fourth innings. Junior Tom Druk (Plymouth, Minn./Orono) and Graves started the third with a walk and double, respectively. Following a strikeout, Pfaff brought Druk in with a sacrifice fly. Graves scored on a two-base throwing error by the third baseman and Forster made it 3-0 with an RBI single. Larson led off the fourth with a double and scored on a fielding error. Forster registered his second RBI of the game with a bases-loaded walk and Cline increased the lead to 6-0 with an RBI single.
A leadoff walk came back to haunt Hayden Zimmerman '12 in the bottom half of the fourth, as the free base-runner came around to score from first base on a two-out double. Carleton cut its deficit to 6-4 with three runs on four hits in the fifth. Both teams exchanged an unearned run in the sixth to end the scoring.
Zimmerman allowed a season-high four earned runs on six hits but hung on for the win, improving his record to 3-1. He struck out four and walked three in five innings of work. Sophomore Collin Felhaber (North St. Paul, Minn.) battled out of a jam in the sixth but tallied strikeouts for all three outs to escape unblemished. Long walked his leadoff hitter in the seventh but responded with a 1-2-3 inning out of the stretch. Cline led the Johnnies with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, while Larson was 2-for-4.
Long gave SJU a 2-0 in game two with a two-run single in the third inning. The Knights reacted quickly, however, tying the game with two runs with two outs in the bottom half of the third. Carleton threatened to take its first lead of the day with runners on second and third and nobody out in the fifth, but Cline persevered with three straight strikeouts to end the inning. The momentum sparked the Johnnies to manufacture a run in the top of the sixth. Bert Marsnik '12 started the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a balk and took third on a groundout. He scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a sac fly from Larson in the next at-bat. Cline improved to 4-2, allowing both runs on six hits. He struck out five and walked four in six innings. Long had an easier seventh this time around, posting a 1-2-3 seventh to earn his fourth save of the season and eighth of his career.
SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 29-11 against Carleton since 1993, including a 13-5 record in Collegeville. The Johnnies have won each of the last five meetings overall.
