The Saint John's baseball team begins MIAC play, finally, with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Saint Mary's on Sunday, April 6, in Winona. – Live Stats

EARLY-SEASON GAPS END vs. SMU: SJU will finally end its 30-day hiatus between games at Saint Mary's on Sunday. The Johnnies also ended a 17-day span between games against Saint Mary's last spring.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (8-1, 0-0 MIAC) batted .353 and posted a 2.48 ERA (.257 opponent batting average) to go 8-1 over spring break (March 3-7) in Fort Myers, Fla. The 8-1 record is SJU's best start to the season since 1993, when it went 8-1 and jumped out to a 19-4 record through the first 23 games. The Johnnies currently tout three players batting above .340 with at least 18 at-bats: senior outfielder Joe Lampe (.579, Osceola, Iowa/Clarke); junior outfielder Brett Becker (.500, North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View); sophomore shortstop Logan Hershey (.360, Maple Grove, Minn.); and junior outfielder Aaron Pfaff (.344, New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral).

NEW FORMAT: Due to the MIAC's new doubleheader format, the first game will be a seven-inning contest, followed by a nine-inning tilt in game two (unless game one is decided in extra innings).

FEL-HEATER: The Johnnies' hard-throwing junior Collin Felhaber (North St. Paul, Minn.) compiled a 1.80 ERA with 14 strikeouts, to two walks, in 10 innings (two starts) over spring break March 3-7 in Fort Myers, Fla. He picked up the win and partial shutout in the Johnnies' 4-0 season-opening win over Dominican (Ill.) March 3, allowing five hits with three strikeouts (no walks) in four innings. The start was Felhaber's first since his freshman season in 2012. He saved his best for last, allowing two runs on five hits with 11 strikeouts in six innings to earn the no decision in SJU's 3-2 win over Bluffton (Ohio) in the second game (scheduled nine innings) of March 6's doubleheader. Felhaber became the first Johnnie to record 10 or more strikeouts in a game since 2008. Only three of his 28 outs recorded in the 10 innings were "flyouts," all of which were recorded March 6: a pop-up to first base, a foul out to first base and a fly out to center.

NO. 9 BATTER: Lampe batted .579 (11-for-19) with three doubles, a triple and a team-leading nine RBI in six games at the Johnnies' No. 9 spot in the lineup over spring break. He batted 8-for-10 with runners on base, including a perfect 6-for-6 with runners in scoring position (2-for-2 with the bases loaded). Lampe celebrated his 22nd birthday in style, going 3-for-4, a home run short of the cycle, with six RBI in the 12-3 win over Bluffton (Ohio) March 6. The six RBI is the most by a Johnnie in a single game since Matt Butorac '11 recorded six against Dickinson (Pa.) nearly five years to the date, March 7, 2009, in Chandler, Ariz. Lampe entered his senior season with 16 varsity at-bats (.188, 3-for-16).

PFAFF IN THE BOOKS: Pfaff has already cracked a number of Johnnie top-10 lists. A career .326 batter with 91 hits, Pfaff has a career .422 on-base percentage, is tied for seventh in school history in stolen bases (25) and is tied for ninth in walks (42).

STARTING AT SECOND: Becker has started each of the Johnnies' first nine games of the season "second": the No. 2 spot in the lineup and at a new position, from the outfield, second base. He is currently batting .500 (14-for-28) and carries a team-leading .588 on-base percentage.

PEWTER POWER: The Johnnies' top van in Florida, nicknamed "Pewter Power" and driven by athletic media relations director Ryan Klinkner, posted the best stats of the week. Becker, Lampe, junior outfielder Tom Druk (Plymouth, Minn./Orono), senior first baseman Tony Gazich (Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View), senior first baseman Josh Groth (Fridley, Minn.) and senior outfielder Tom Lambert (Broomfield, Colo./Holy Trinity) combined for a .410 (43-105) batting average with 20 runs scored, nine doubles, two triples, 27 RBI and a .974 fielding percentage (113-for-116).

A LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Saint Mary's (5-10, 1-0 MIAC) opened conference play with a win and a suspended game against Hamline on Wednesday (April 2) in Winona. The games were originally scheduled to be held in St. Paul but were moved to Winona due to poor field conditions. The Cardinals rode the right arms of sophomores Ben Johnson and A.J. Redders to a 6-0 win in game one. Game two was deadlocked at 9-9 after nine innings, when play was suspended due to darkness and will be completed on April 24 in St. Paul. The Cardinals took advantage of two HU errors to plate three runs in the top of the second. Johnson scattered five hits with four strikeouts in 5.2 innings, while Redders threw the final 1.1 to seal the shutout. SMU's six hits in the opener came from six different players, highlighted by junior David Barry's two-run single in the sixth.
 
The Cardinals picked up where they left off in the nightcap, scoring once in the second and four times in the third. Senior Paul LaNasa (two-run double) and sophomore Kevin Miley (two-run homer) accounted for all of the damage in the third. Hamline cut the deficit to 4-3 with three runs in its half of the third, but a three-run SMU fourth — highlighted by RBI singles from LaNasa and Miley, and a run-scoring double by senior Kevin Gannon — and a one-run fifth pushed the Cardinals' lead back to six, 9-3. But again the Pipers would answer, plating five runs in the bottom of the fifth, before tying the game 9-9 with a solo run in the eighth. Both teams threatened in the ninth — SMU left the bases load in the top half of the inning, while Hamline put the winning on second with two out and failed to convert — but darkness forced the game to be halted.

Freshman Ben Buerkle leads the team in batting at .360 (18-for-50), runs scored (13) and RBI (14). SMU is batting .281 with a .956 fielding percentage as a team, while the pitching staff has a 6.77 ERA and allows a .320 batting average in 125 innings.

LAST YEAR: Saint John's and Saint Mary's split its conference doubleheader last April 24 (2013) in Collegeville. SJU out-hit the Cardinals 12-5 but needed a walk-off single from junior Geno Larkin (Eden Prairie, Minn.) with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn a 6-5 win in game one. Saint Mary's put together back-to-back four-run innings en route to an 11-7 win in game two. Six of the 11 runs scored were earned.

SJU totaled six extra-base hits (four doubles, two home runs) on the day, while all 13 of SMU's hits were singles. The Cardinals batted .232 on the day but took advantage of the six SJU errors, 11 walks and six wild pitches in the doubleheader.

The Johnnies answered SMU's 2-0 lead with six consecutive hits, highlighted by Max Forster's '13 second home run of the season, and five runs in the bottom of the first in game one. The Cardinals responded with three runs in the top of the second to tie the game, which remained scoreless until the seventh. With one out, Forster drove a deep fly to center that carried in the wind long enough for the centerfielder to drop it. Forster advanced all the way to third base and scored the game-winning run on Larkin's line drive that bounced past the shortstop.

Graves gave SJU a 2-0 lead with a first-inning homer, his second of the season. The visitors cut their deficit to 2-1 in the third before SJU tacked on another run in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) started the inning with a double, advanced to third on a single by Alex Powell '13 and scored on a sacrifice fly from Graves. Thompson went 3-for-3 with two doubles and three runs scored from the No. 9 spot in the lineup.

The Cardinals tallied eight runs, four earned, in the fourth and fifth innings. Both innings were fueled by infield/groundball singles, walks and botched double plays in each inning.

SERIES HISTORY: Since 1987, SJU is 33-22 against Saint Mary's, including a 14-8 record in Winona. The Johnnies have won five of the last seven meetings overall (and 18 of the last 25).