Game 1 Box Score |
Game 2 Box ScoreCOLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's cracked 27 hits in 12.1 innings pitched, a .450 average (27-for-60), in a doubleheader sweep of Macalester on Wednesday, April 22, in Collegeville.
SJU (19-12, 9-5 MIAC) scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, including a walk-off sacrifice fly from senior centerfielder
Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral), to earn a 5-4 win in game one before the home team erupted for 20 hits in a 20-3 victory in game two. The second game was shortened to seven innings due to the 10-run rule.
The Scots (7-19, 0-14 MIAC) found the scoreboard first in game one thanks to two infield singles in the top of the fifth inning. The Johnnies answered, however, with three runs in the bottom half. A throwing error on a possible double-play ball plated the first run before Pfaff drove in two more with a two-out single.
Mac tallied three more runs in the sixth inning to take a 4-3 lead into the seventh. Junior rightfielder
Mike Stegora (Red Wing, Minn.) started the seventh with a walk before senior
Kurt Jantscher (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) and junior
Patrick Strey (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) followed with beautiful, back-to-back bunt singles to load the bases with nobody out. Senior second baseman
Brett Becker (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) fouled off three pitches with a 2-2 count before taking a curveball in the back to tie the game. Pfaff registered the game-winning sac fly in the next at-bat.
Jantscher earned the win, improving to 3-1 on the year, thanks to 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. Senior
Tyler Delwiche (Andover, Minn./Totino-Grace) allowed the four runs (three earned) on five hits in 5.1 innings. He struck out six and walked four in the no-decision.
Game one's late-inning offense poured into the nightcap as SJU scored 12 runs in the first four innings to gain a 12-3 lead. The Johnnies entered the bottom of the sixth needing one run to enforce the 10-run rule (after seven completed innings), but instead scored eight runs on seven hits.
Senior
Collin Felhaber (North St. Paul, Minn.) improved to 4-1, allowing the three runs (two earned) on five hits. He struck out seven and walked five. Freshman
Ben Etzell (Greenbank, Wash./Coupeville) wrapped up the win with a scoreless seventh inning.
Six Johnnies recorded three hits or more on the day. Becker went 4-for-6 with five RBI, including a bases-clearing triple in game two, while Jantscher went 4-for-7 with two RBI and five runs scored. Senior leftfielder
Tom Druk (Plymouth, Minn./Orono) went 4-for-5 with three RBI in game two and Pfaff collected three hits and four RBI on the afternoon.
Junior catcher
Gabe MacDonald (Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a single in the second inning of game one and a two-run double in game two's eight-run sixth inning.
SJU batted .553 (21-for-38) with runners on base, .536 (15-for-28) with runners in scoring position and an eye-opening 15-for-16 (.938) with a runner on third base and less than two outs on the day.
The 20 runs scored are the most by the Johnnies in a single game since March 7, 2009 (a 24-8 win over Dickinson, Pa., in Chandler, Ariz.). SJU is now 39-8 against Macalester since 1993, including an 18-2 record in Collegeville.
The Johnnies travel to face Hamline for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader next Wednesday, April 29, at the new St. Paul Saints stadium, CHS Stadium, in St. Paul.
