The Johnnie baseball team travels to face Carleton for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, April 19, at Mel Taube Field in Northfield. – Listen Live/Live Stats

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (13-4, 5-3 MIAC) and St. Olaf played to a blustery doubleheader split last Sunday (April 13) at Saint John's Field in Collegeville. The Johnnies out-hit the Oles 13-4 in game one's 7-0 shutout, but made too many mistakes in a 4-3 loss in the nightcap. SJU took advantage of five hits in a five-run second inning in game one and added two more in the fifth. The rest belonged to sophomore Patrick Strey (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview), who allowed only four hits with three strikeouts, to no walks, in the seven-inning shutout. He threw 66 pitches, 51 for strikes, to improve to 2-1 on the year. Eight of the nine Johnnie starters collected a hit and six posted an RBI in game one.

St. Olaf took advantage of a leadoff walk, and a two-out RBI, to find the scoreboard first in the third inning of game two. SJU took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Oles tied it with two pivotal runs, unearned, in the top of the fifth. With runners on second and third with two outs, STO catcher Jack Schechinger lined what looked to be the final out to centerfield, but the ball slipped out of senior Dylan Graves' (Mora, Minn.) glove for the two-run error. Junior outfielder Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) started the fifth with a double but was left stranded at third. The Johnnies threatened again in the eighth, with runners on the corners and two out, but senior outfielder Joe Lampe (Osceola, Iowa/Clarke) smoked a lineout to left. The Oles failed to get the ball out of the infield but still managed to score what proved to be the game-winning run with two outs in the ninth. Junior Jack Hamilton (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) induced a groundball out and a strikeout to retire the first two batters of the inning, before plunking the leadoff hitter on a 0-1 count. STO then recorded back-to-back infield singles to load the bases before Schechinger coaxed a full-count walk to bring in the fourth and final run.

PITCHING vs. STO: SJU's pitching staff recorded a 1.12 ERA and a .186 opponent batting average against the Oles on Sunday, lowering its season totals to 2.39 and .233, respectively.

1.96: Four Saint John's starting pitchers, that have made two starts or more this season, have combined for an 8-2 record in 13 starts with a 1.96 ERA and a .228 opponent batting average in 82.2 innings: Strey (2-1, 1.35 ERA), junior Collin Felhaber (3-0, 2.16 ERA; North St. Paul, Minn.), sophomore Joe Stanton (2-1, 3.66; Stillwater, Minn.) and freshman Derek Graves (3-0, 0.50 ERA; Mora, Minn.).

2.39: SJU leads the MIAC (all games) with a 2.39 ERA, nearly one full point better than nationally-ranked St. Thomas (3.30).

0.50: Derek Graves leads the MIAC (all games, minimum 10 innings pitched) with a 0.50 ERA in 18 innings of work. He is 3-0 in four appearances (two starts) and has held opponents to a .133 batting average.

100 HITS: Dylan Graves, the older brother of Derek, and Pfaff reached the 100-hit plateau for their respective careers last week. Graves became the 23rd Johnnie in school history to record 100 hits in game two's 3-1 win at Augsburg April 12, while Pfaff achieved the honor in game two against St. Olaf April 13.

STEALING SIXTH: Pfaff stole his eighth base of the season in game one of the Johnnies' doubleheader at Augsburg April 12 to move in to sixth in school history with 28 in 33 career attempts. He is three steals behind assistant coach Chad Krueger (1996-99) for fifth.

(3-7)x3: Dylan Graves extended his hit streak to nine games by batting .429 (9-for-21) with five RBI, four runs scored and a .571 slugging percentage last week. He went 3-for-7 in each of the three doubleheaders on the week. He clobbered the game-winning hit, a bases-clearing triple over the centerfielder's head in the 4-2 victory in game one at Augsburg April 12. Graves is currently third in the MIAC (conference games only, minimum 28 at-bats) in batting average (.414).

A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Carleton (14-8, 6-4 MIAC) has won five of its last six games, including a pair of one-run wins in a sweep of Augsburg (2-1 and 4-3 in 12 innings), a day after SJU swept the Auggies. The Knights are batting .346 as a team, have totaled 88 extra-base hits (58 doubles, 19 triples and 11 homers) in 22 games and boast four batters above .400 (minimum 50 at-bats): senior Jeff Dsida (.479), sophomore Hayden Tsutsui (.448), senior David Stillerman (.427) and junior Nolan Baker (.415). The Knights' pitching staff, however, permits a .301 batting average and carries a 6.02 ERA with 108 strikeouts (to 91 walks) in 182.1 innings.

LAST YEAR: Saint John's ended its regular season with a doubleheader split with Carleton on May 7 (2013) in Collegeville. The Johnnies cracked nine extra-base hits, including two home runs from Dylan Graves and a three-run shot from senior Josh Groth (Fridley, Minn.) in a 16-3 rout in game one. The well went dry, however, in game two as SJU totaled only six hits and committed three errors in a 9-4 loss in game two. Five of the nine runs allowed were unearned. The doubleheader was delayed an hour and 43 minutes because umpires were not assigned by the league office.

Graves gave the home team an early 3-0 lead with a three-run shot in the first inning of game one and added a solo shot in the third inning. The multi-homer game is the third of his collegiate career. Alex Powell '13 drove in another run in the third with an RBI double. SJU added two more in the fourth, six runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth. Graves, Powell and senior Luke Larson (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) all had three hits. Pfaff went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored, while Graves and Groth combined for nine RBI. Ryan Spengler '13, the reigning MIAC Pitcher of the Week following his complete-game, nine-inning shutout May 5, earned the win on one day of rest. He allowed two runs on six hits with five strikeouts.

Carleton jumped on junior Tyler Delwiche (Andover, Minn./Totino-Grace) for six runs, four earned, in 3.1 innings. The Knights built a 9-0 lead until the sixth inning when Joey Long '13 brought in Cline with a sacrifice fly and Graves scored on a wild pitch. SJU had runners on second and third with no outs in the fourth inning but did not score. Junior Brett Becker (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) ended the scoring with a two-run homer to right field, the first of his collegiate career, in the bottom of the seventh inning. Thaddeus Gregory earned the complete-game win for Carleton, allowing the four runs on six hits. He held SJU, which totaled 17 hits in game one, to only three hits through the first five innings. Eight of the Knights' 13 hits in game two were infield/groundball singles.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 30-12 against Carleton since 1993, including a 15-5 record in Northfield. The Johnnies have won six of the last seven meetings overall, out-scoring the Knights by a 2-to-1 ratio (54-27).