Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Saint John's baseball climbed into first place in the MIAC with a doubleheader sweep of St. Thomas, 5-4 and 1-0, on Tuesday, April 23, in St. Paul.

The sweep was the first at St. Thomas since 1998 for the Johnnies (26-9, 11-5 MIAC), who have now won each of the last five meetings overall – and 10 of the last 13 – against the Tommies (16-10, 8-5 MIAC).

Junior designated hitter Joey Stock (Cold Spring, Minn./Saint John's Prep) continued to wallop the baseball, going 4-for-7 with two more home runs, four RBI and three runs scored in the doubleheader. He is now batting .567 (17-for-30) with 10 extra-base hits, including seven home runs, 20 RBI and 13 runs scored over his last eight games. The reigning MIAC Player of the Week was also named to the D3baseball.com National Team of the Week late last night. Stock's nine home runs on the year tie him for the second-most in an SJU season, two behind Brent Schloe's 11 in 2000.

The rest of the Johnnies' lineup, however, batted only .104 (5-for-48) on the day. Three SJU pitchers did the rest, allowing the four runs (three earned) on 16 hits, 15 of which were singles, in 16 innings. 

Saint John's 5, at St. Thomas 4
SJU answered the Tommies' single run in the bottom of the first inning with five straight over the second and third innings. Senior left fielder Jack Wingerd (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI triple and senior second baseman Thomas Meland (Northfield, Minn.) brought him in with an RBI groundout.

Stock made it 5-1 in the top of the third inning with a three-run blast on a 2-2 pitch with two outs. 

The Tommies cut it to 5-2 with a two-out, solo home run from Jake Husnick in the bottom of the fourth. UST started the bottom of the fifth with two straight singles, but senior Bennett Wiggins (St. Anthony, Minn.) battled back with a strikeout and induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Like the fifth inning, St. Thomas started the bottom of the sixth with two consecutive singles. A sacrifice-bunt attempt turned into a hit and a throwing error brought in a run to make it 5-3, which ended Wiggins' afternoon in favor of senior Tommy Auger (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral). Auger prompted a 6-4-3 double play, which brought in another run, and ended the inning with a fly out to right.

Wiggins allowed the four runs, three earned, on 10 hits in five innings to improve to 7-2 on the year (14-4 in his career). He struck out four and walked one.

Auger recorded a 1-2-3 seventh inning to complete his two innings of hitless relief and earn his second save of the season (fifth of his career).

Saint John's 1, at St. Thomas 0
Stock scored the game's lone run with an opposite-field homer in the top of the fourth inning. SJU loaded the bases in the fifth but did not score.

Senior Danny Kuhn (Alexandria, Minn.) cruised through the first six innings, but ran into trouble in the seventh. UST started the inning with a pair of singles, but Kuhn coaxed a 4-6-3 double play and a fly out to end the threat.

Auger issued a two-out walk to UST's Sam Cobbs in the bottom of the ninth and Josh Thorp followed with a Texas-leaguer to center field. The Johnnies threw behind Cobbs, who rounded third base too far, to get the third out and clinch the sweep.

Kuhn pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing five singles with four strikeouts, to move his season record to 6-1 (13-2 in his career). Auger added two more scoreless innings to his ledger for another save.

The Johnnies return to action with a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader against Macalester next Wednesday, May 1, at Becker Park in Collegeville. The games will be the first for SJU at home since April 9.