Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's earned the No. 2 seed in next week's MIAC Tournament with a doubleheader split against Hamline on Saturday, May 4, in Collegeville.

SJU (28-11, 13-7 MIAC) entered the seventh inning of game one with a 7-5 lead and lost 8-7 in eight innings, but bounced back with a 4-3 victory in game two for the split. The Johnnies batted .368 (21-for-57) on the afternoon, but recorded five hard-hit double plays.

The Pipers (17-21, 8-12 MIAC) batted only .228 (13-for-57) on the day, including .163 (8-for-49) after the doubleheader's first inning, but took advantage of nine walks and five hit batsmen. Five of HU's 11 runs scored reached base thanks to a free pass.

The Johnnies face third-seeded St. Olaf (24-13, 13-7 MIAC) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at CHS Field in St. Paul. Gustavus Adolphus (23-11, 14-6 MIAC) scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to win game two 10-6, earn the doubleheader split and win its first MIAC regular-season title since 1980.

Senior center fielder Max Jackson (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) led SJU at the plate with a 4-for-6 performance on the day. His third-inning single in game two enabled him to become the 17th baseball student-athlete in the MIAC to reach 200 career hits.

Junior designated hitter Joey Stock (Cold Spring, Minn./Saint John's Prep) extended his hit streak to 12 games with a pair of hits. He tied the SJU single-season record with his 11th home run, a solo shot, which started the Johnnies' five-run sixth inning in game one. Stock concluded league play with a .417 batting average (25-for-60), nine home runs and 26 RBI in 18 MIAC games.

Hamline 8, Saint John's 7 (8 inn.)
The Pipers jumped on senior Bennett Wiggins (St. Anthony, Minn.) for four runs on five hits, including four doubles, in the first inning of game one. HU entered the doubleheader with a league-low 14 extra-base hits in 529 MIAC at-bats.

The visitors made it 5-0 with another run in the third inning before SJU responded with a pair in the bottom half. The Johnnies loaded the bases with three straight one-out singles, erased the shutout on a bases-loaded walk by Stock and plated the other on a wild pitch. 

Stock took advantage of a dropped foul ball and crushed the at-bat's 11th pitch over the left-center fence to start the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior first baseman Aaron Kloeppner (Dayton, Minn./Champlin Park) doubled in senior left fielder Jack Wingerd (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall), who reached via walk, and scored to tie the game at 5-5 on freshman catcher Ethan Roe's (Golden Valley, Minn./Blake) RBI single. Jackson gave SJU the lead with a two-out, two-run double to end the scoring.

The Pipers tied the game with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the seventh inning, one on a bases-loaded walk and another on a fielder's choice, and scored what proved to be the game-winning run on another fielder's choice in the top of the eighth. Both fielder's choices could have been inning-ending double plays had they not been weak groundballs.

Senior Tommy Auger (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) took the loss, allowing one run on one hit in 1.2 innings. Wiggins surrendered five runs on six hits, with five strikeouts, in six innings for the no-decision. He collected four three-up-three-down innings.

Saint John's 4, Hamline 3
SJU jumped to a 2-0 lead in game two thanks to RBI singles from Kloeppner and junior third baseman Jack Schramel (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral).

HU posted a 3-2 lead with three cheap runs, one on a bases-loaded balk in the second inning and two on a wild pitch and coinciding error.

Wingerd tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI double in the bottom of the third and Kloeppner came through with another two-out, RBI single to make it 4-3.

Freshman Nathan Brandecker (South St. Paul, Minn.) earned the win thanks to four scoreless innings of relief. Stock allowed the three runs (two earned) on only two hits in three innings. He struck out five, but issued four walks, hit three batters and was called for two balks.