Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 20 Saint John's opened the double-elimination MIAC Tournament with a 6-3 win over Gustavus Adolphus on Friday, May 11, at CHS Field in downtown St. Paul.
The Johnnies (32-6, 16-4 MIAC) face Bethel (30-9, 14-6 MIAC) in a winners' bracket game at noon Saturday, May 12, at CHS Field. The second-seeded Royals defeated fourth-seeded St. Thomas 5-4 in 10 innings Friday night (a two-out, bases-loaded walk).
SJU tied a program record for wins in a season, set in 2016 (32-14), with the victory, the team's 16th in the last 17 games.
SJU sent nine men to the plate in the first inning and gained a quick 4-0 lead, thanks to four hits and two Gustavus (20-17, 11-9 MIAC) errors, and added two more in the second inning with a walk and hit batsmen with the bases loaded.
The Gusties started the fourth inning with four straight hits and a sacrifice fly off junior
Jake Dickmeyer (Woodbury, Minn.) to halve the Johnnies' lead at 6-3. GAC entered the contest with wins in eight of its last nine games.
A bloop single to start the ninth inning ended Dickmeyer's day, but junior
Bennett Wiggins (St. Anthony, Minn.) induced a 6-4-3 double play and a flyout to close the game for his first save of the season.
Dickmeyer improved to 5-1 with the win, allowing the three runs on seven hits in eight innings. He struck out four and threw 85 pitches, 66 for strikes, in the game.
Senior first baseman
Jeron Terres (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) recorded hits in his first three at-bats to reach 100 for his collegiate career (94 at SJU and six at Division I North Dakota State from 2015-16). Senior catcher
Dominick Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.), sophomore third baseman
Jack Schramel (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) and sophomore right-fielder
Wyatt Ulrich (Indus, Minn./International Falls) tallied two hits apiece.
The Gusties issued 11 free passes (nine walks and two hit batsmen) in the game, but batted 2-for-2 with runners in scoring position. The Johnnies, meanwhile, left 15 men on base in eight innings and batted 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position.