Box ScoreMINNETONKA, Minn. – Saint John's committed six errors and let a 7-6 lead slip away in the ninth inning in a 9-8, 11-inning loss to Concordia-Moorhead in the first day of the MIAC Tournament on Friday, May 8, at Veterans Field in Minnetonka.
The Johnnies (22-14, 12-6 MIAC) will face Bethel in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 9, in Minnetonka.
Four of the Cobbers' last five runs scored, including the final three, were unearned. The Johnnies left 12 men on base, including two in each of the first four innings.
Back-to-back, seeing-eye doubles to start the third inning gave Concordia (26-9, 12-6 MIAC) a 1-0 lead. Aaron Green doubled down the left-field line and Devin Johnson dropped another double that landed just fair in left field, but senior lefty
Tyler Delwiche (Andover, Minn./Totino-Grace) bounced back to hold the Cobbers at bay the rest of the inning.
Junior rightfielder
Mike Stegora (Red Wing, Minn.) tied the game for SJU with a two-out, RBI single in the bottom half of the inning and sophomore third baseman
Derek Schiebel (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) came through with a ground-rule double to give SJU a 2-1 lead in the fourth.
A two-out double from Nick Bornhauser scored Johnson from first base to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the fifth. Delwiche registered a walk and a hit batsmen to load the bases, but coaxed a groundout to end the threat.
A two-run triple down the right-field line from Johnson, who then scored on a sacrifice fly, gave Concordia a 5-2 lead in the sixth inning.
Three consecutive one-out singles from Becker, senior centerfielder
Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) and Schiebel loaded the bases in the sixth before junior shortstop
Logan Hershey (Maple Grove, Minn.) launched a grand slam, his fourth home run of the season, to give SJU a 6-5 lead.
The lead was short-lived once again as the Cobbers tied the game on a fielder's choice in the top of the seventh inning. Delwiche overthrew second base on what would have been a 1-4-3, inning-ending double play, and hit the next batter to load the bases and end his evening on the mound. Freshman
Ben Etzell (Greenbank, Wash./Coupeville) induced a foul out to the catcher and a strikeout swinging to get out of the inning.
Stegora walked to start the Johnnies' half of the seventh and advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt that sailed wide of first base. He moved up to third base on the first out of the inning, a groundout from senior
Kurt Jantscher (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong), but was stranded there.
Hershey just missed his second home run of the night, a two-out double off the left-field fence in the eighth, and scored the go-ahead run on a single from junior
Gabe MacDonald (Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) in the bottom of the eighth. MacDonald extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a single in the third inning and went 2-for-5 with a run scored on the night.
A throwing error, infield single and walk loaded the bases for Concordia with one out in the top of the ninth off Jantscher. Green lifted a deep flyball to center, what would have been a sac fly, but Pfaff dropped the ball. Only one run scored, however, tying the game at 7-7, and Green ran past the lead runner for the second out. Johnson then flew out to end the inning.
Concordia tallied two unearned runs to gain a 9-7 lead in the 11th. SJU added an unearned run of its own in the bottom half, but left the game-tying run at third base.
Strey took the loss, allowing two unearned runs on two hits in one inning of relief.
Hershey ended the night 3-for-6 with four RBI and three runs scored, while Becker and Schiebel added three hits apiece.
