Concordia Box Score |
La Crosse Box Score
LA CROSSE, Wis. – Saint John's baseball ended its 2016 season with a 4-2 record and a runner-up finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional on Saturday, May 21, in La Crosse, Wis.
The Johnnies (32-14 overall) advanced to the championship round with a 7-5 win over No. 13/18 Concordia-Chicago in 11 innings earlier in the afternoon, but fell to No. 3/4 Wisconsin-La Crosse (38-8 overall) by a 5-3 score in the title game.
SJU was the only team in the regional field to hold La Crosse to single digits in runs scored. La Crosse entered the game batting .460 in the tournament and .374 on the year.
The Eagles advance to the eight-team NCAA Division III Championship May 27-31 in Appleton, Wis.
Senior shortstop
Logan Hershey (Maple Grove, Minn.) and junior pitcher
Alex Kendall (St. Cloud, Minn./Saint John's Prep) were named to the 11-man All-Tournament team. Hershey batted .407 (11-for-27) with four runs scored, two home runs and six RBI in the tourney's six games. Kendall, meanwhile, posted a 2-0 record with a 1.64 ERA and a .239 opponent batting average in 11 innings pitched.
La Crosse jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of unearned runs in the first inning, but SJU rallied to tie the game with two runs of its own in the top of the second. Senior first baseman/pitcher
Patrick Strey (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) walked to start the inning and freshman outfielder
Jack Wingerd (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) followed with a single. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners up before a wild pitch plated Strey with two outs. Senior catcher
Gabe MacDonald (Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) tied the game with an RBI single on the very next pitch.
The Eagles tallied another two-out run in the third inning and tacked on two more in the fourth.
SJU tallied a pair of hits in both the sixth and seventh innings but did not score. The Johnnies finally broke through with an unearned run in the top of the ninth inning, thanks to a hit and two La Crosse errors, but that is where the scoring ended.
Strey, who made his first appearance on the mound since May 7 due to a sore throwing arm, took the loss. He allowed five runs (three earned) on nine hits in four innings.
Senior
Marcus Barone (Eden Prairie, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) retired the first 10 batters he faced and allowed only one hit in four scoreless innings of relief.
MacDonald led SJU with two hits, while Schiebel added a double.
Caleb Boushley, the WIAC Pitcher of the Year, allowed all three runs (two earned) on eight hits in 8.1 innings to earn the victory. He entered the game with a 9-0 record, 1.69 ERA and a .221 opponent batting average in 79.2 innings pitched. The Eagles' Taylor Kohlwey extended his hitting streak to 49 games with a single in the first inning.
Saint John's 7, Concordia-Chicago 5 (11 inn.)
The Cougars (34-13 overall) pieced together a 3-0 lead with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth off freshman starter
Cameron Jurek (Foley, Minn.), who struck out six and surrendered five hits in six innings for the no-decision.
SJU erupted for five runs on six hits to gain a 5-3 lead in the top of the seventh inning. Freshman second baseman
Cole Weaver (Carlsbad, Calif./Santa Fe Christian) walked with one out and junior third baseman
Derek Schiebel (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) followed with a single before Hershey put SJU on the scoreboard with an RBI single.
Senior designated hitter
Mike Stegora (Red Wing, Minn.) and Wingerd tied the game for SJU with back-to-back, RBI singles with two outs to chase the Cougars' starting pitcher. Senior outfielder
Dan Keller (Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake) gave the Johnnies a 5-3 lead with a two-run double over the centerfielder's head in the next at-bat.
CUC was down to its final out, but Doug Matthews lifted a fly ball into the right-center jet stream for a two-run homer to tie the game. Both runs were unearned.
Keller came through once again for SJU with another RBI double in the top of the 11th inning for what proved to be the game-winning run. MacDonald added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the ensuing at-bat.
Kendall lost the save opportunity but earned the win to improve to 8-2 on the year. He allowed the two unearned runs on five hits in 4.1 innings of relief. Sophomore
Nick Noack (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) recorded the game's final two outs to earn his fifth save of the year.
The Johnnies cracked 17 hits in the game and left 14 men on base. Keller and Strey both went 3-for-6 at the plate, while Hershey, MacDonald, Schiebel and Stegora added two hits apiece.
