Game 1 Box Score |
Game 2 Box ScoreTUCSON, Ariz. – Saint John's baseball started its Tucson trip with a doubleheader split with Mayville State (N.D.), an NAIA scholarship school, on Thursday, March 19.
The Johnnies were originally scheduled to play two nine-inning games Thursday, one against Marian (Wis.) and another versus Mayville State, but morning rain shifted the day's schedule and shuffled opponents as Marian needed make its flight home.
Mayville State (13-11 overall) broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the seventh inning en route to game one's 4-2 win, while SJU (6-5 overall) registered five RBI with two outs in game two's 7-5 victory. Four of the six runs allowed to the Comets were bases-loaded walks (3) or hit batsmen (1).
A pair of seeing-eye doubles down the left-field line in the top of the seventh inning spoiled junior
Patrick Strey's (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) strong start. The Comets' No. 9 hitter dropped a double in the left-field corner, near the line, for the go-ahead run before Spencer Mallonee roped a double down the same left-field line to plate two off junior
Brad Luebbert (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest).
Senior
Tom Druk (Plymouth, Minn./Orono) drove in junior
Dan Keller (Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake), who led off the seventh with a double, with an RBI single but that was all SJU could muster.
Strey took the loss, allowing four runs on nine hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out a career-high eight with no walks.
A pair of two-run hits proved to be the difference for SJU in game two. Senior
Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) gave SJU a 3-1 lead with a two-run, two-out single in the top of the fourth. Mayville gained a 5-3 with four runs in the fourth, but the Johnnies rallied for four runs of their own in the top of the fifth. A two-run, two-out double off the bat of junior
Gabe MacDonald (Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) served as the game-winning hit.
Sophomore
Rhyan Bett (West Covina, Calif./Bishop Amat) earned his first collegiate win with 1.2 of hitless relief. Senior
Kurt Jantscher (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) allowed a manufactured run in the seventh and tallied his third save of the season.
Druk and sophomore
Derek Schiebel (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) led SJU with 4-for-7 performances at the plate, while Pfaff added three hits on the day. Druk and Pfaff each drove in three runs.
The Johnnies take on Concordia (Wis.) for a noon CST doubleheader on Friday, March 20.
