Box ScoreLA CROSSE, Wis. – Saint John's baseball ended its 2015 season with a 2-0 loss to No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater, the defending NCAA Division III national champions, in the NCAA Regional on Thursday, May 14, at Copeland Park in La Crosse, Wis.
Senior
Collin Felhaber (North St. Paul, Minn.) went the distance for SJU (26-16, 12-6 MIAC), allowing the two runs on six singles to the Warhawks. He struck out five and walked four in nine innings of work, including six scoreless frames to start the game, to fall to 6-2 on the season.
No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater (34-10, 18-6 WIAC) manufactured a run in the seventh inning thanks to a two-out, RBI single from Trey Cannon, and added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Mike Mierow recorded an infield single to start the inning, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and made it to third on a groundout. He stole home with two outs when senior catcher
Kurt Jantscher (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) threw down to first baseman
Patrick Strey (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) in an attempt to pickoff the runner. The throw was fine, but Mierow took advantage of his formidable lead and scored.
Senior leftfielder
Tom Druk (Plymouth, Minn./Orono) almost gave SJU an early lead with a solo home run to start the third inning, but the ball hit the high left-field fence, a foot from a home run, for a double. He made it to third, but was stranded there.
The Johnnies were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and fouled out three times on the day.
Junior shortstop
Logan Hershey (Maple Grove, Minn.) just missed a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the ball was caught by the sprinting left-fielder on the warning track.
Junior catcher
Gabe MacDonald (Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's), in the lineup as the Johnnies' designated hitter, saw his hitting streak come to an end at 27 games. He was robbed in his last at-bat by a diving catch from All-American shortstop Mikole Pierce. Pierce went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts at the plate.
Senior centerfielder
Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) went 3-for-4 to finish the regional with six hits in nine at-bats and a 13-game hitting streak. He ended his career as SJU's all-time leader in games played (146), at-bats (537) and runs scored (123). Pfaff finished second in walks (75, stolen bases (46) and hits (182).
Druk added two hits and junior rightfielder
Mike Stegora (Red Wing, Minn.) doubled with two outs in the ninth.
