Box Score

FT. MYERS, Fla. – No. 29 Saint John's baseball ended its spring-break trip with a 10-3 win over Thiel (Pa.) on Friday, March 10, in Fort Myers, Fla.

The Johnnies (9-5 overall) cracked 17 hits and rode the arm of senior Alex Kendall (St. Cloud, Minn./Saint John's Prep), who allowed three unearned runs on five hits in seven innings. He struck out seven to improve to 2-1 on the year. Kendall has a 0.53 ERA and a .197 opponent batting average in 17 innings pitched this season.

Three different Johnnies registered three hits on the day: freshman shortstop Jack Schramel (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral), junior infielder Jeron Terres (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) and freshman outfielder Wyatt Ulrich (Indus, Minn./International Falls).

Sophomore outfielder Max Jackson (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) went 2-for-4, while sophomore infielder Thomas Meland (Northfield, Minn.) and junior infielder Brennan Swan (Plymouth, Minn./Totino-Grace) each went 2-for-3 with two RBI.
    
The Johnnies tallied an unearned run to gain an early 1-0 lead in the first inning and made it 5-0 with four runs in the fourth. Terres cranked a leadoff double over the centerfielder's head to start the fourth inning, Meland walked and Schramel's sacrifice-bunt attempt turned into a hit to load the bases. Back-to-back RBI singles from freshman catcher Zach Sufka (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) and Swan made it 3-0 before sophomore outfielder Jack Wingerd (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) brought in Schramel with a sac fly for the first out. Ulrich walked to re-load the bases and Jackson made it 5-0 with a sac fly of his own, but Thiel used a hidden-ball trick to get the third out of the inning with runners on the corners.

The Tomcats (3-4 overall) loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom half of the fourth inning and tallied three unearned runs on a groundout, wild pitch and RBI single.

Meland made it 6-3 with an RBI double in the top of fifth inning and Swan added another run with a two-out, RBI single in the seventh. SJU ended the scoring with three runs in the eighth inning. Ulrich and Jackson started the frame with back-to-back singles and Terres loaded the bases with a one-out, infield single. All three runners advanced on a wild pitch to plate a run and Meland followed with a sac fly. Schramel brought in the inning's third run with an RBI single.

Junior Ben Etzell (Greenbank, Wash./Coupeville) made his team-leading sixth pitching appearance of the season and tossed two scoreless innings of relief. He allowed two hits and struck out three.

The Johnnies are scheduled to return to U.S. Bank Stadium for a 6 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, March 25, though an opponent is yet to be determined. Depending on the weather, SJU may be able to schedule game/s at Collegeville's Becker Park in the coming weeks.