Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Watch

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - This week's #TakeMeBackTuesday is two games instead of one, Saint John's baseball's doubleheader sweep of St. Thomas that clinched the 2018 MIAC regular-season championship on May 6 at Becker Park. 

The regular-season title was the program's 14th and first since 1998 for then-No. 28 SJU, which improved to 31-6 (16-4 MIAC) with the 8-2 and 5-3 victories. 

The MIAC revised the schedule and playoff format two weeks earlier (April 18) due to the late-winter weather. SJU hosted a three-day pod of games April 21-23 and the conference shifted all doubleheaders to two seven-inning games (instead of 7- and 9-inning contests). 



Game 1: Saint John's 8, St. Thomas 2
SJU jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead thanks to six hits, and two UST errors, in the first inning off the Tommies' Henry DeCaster. 

UST cut into the Johnnies' lead with a two-out, two-run homer from Hunter Hart in the top of the fourth inning. SJU answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning, an RBI fielder's choice from designated Thomas Meland '19, and first baseman Jeron Terres '18 ended the scoring with his second double of the game in the sixth. 

Pitcher Danny Kuhn '19 (left) picked up the win, improving to 7-0 on the year (with a 2.06 ERA, .220 opponent batting average and 45 strikeouts, to six walks, in 48 innings). He allowed the two runs on six hits and struck out five in 4.2 innings pitched.

Classmate Jake Dickmeyer '19 scattered four hits over the final 2.1 innings. SJU tagged DeCaster, the 2017 MIAC Pitcher of the Year, with eight runs (six earned) on nine hits in the loss (2-5 record). 

Game 2: Saint John's 5, St. Thomas 3
Game two was more of a back-and-forth game between the two rivals. Like the opener, SJU gained a quick lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning. The Tommies tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning and picked up a 2-1 lead in the top of the third, but the Johnnies answered with two in the bottom half of the inning. The lead was short-lived, however, as the visitors scored an unearned run to tie it at 3-3 in the top of the fourth.

Senior outfielder Wyatt Ulrich's (Indus, Minn./International Falls) fourth hit of the day, a two-run single, proved to be the game-winning knock in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Dickmeyer started game two and allowed one run on five hits in two innings. Bennett Wiggins '19 surrendered two unearned runs in two innings and registered the win, thanks to Ulrich's go-ahead single. 

Tommy Auger '19 pitched three innings of scoreless relief to tally his second collegiate save.

Ryan Zimmerman took the loss for UST, allowing five runs (four earned) on only three hits. The MIAC's leader in strikeouts with 67, Zimmerman walked four and did not strike out a Johnnie in the contest.

Doubleheader Notes
-UST batted .190 (4-for-21) with runners in scoring position and left 20 men on base.

-SJU went 1-for-13 (.077) with two outs, but the leadoff hitter (to start an inning) reached base safely in seven of the 12 frames (.583). Only three of the Johnnies' 16 leadoff batters reached in the previous day's (May 5) doubleheader split with St. Olaf.

-Terres (right) ended the day 3-for-6 with three doubles and three runs scored. The performance enabled him to take over the MIAC lead (all games) in doubles (18) and RBI (36).

-Wiggins moved his record 5-2 with a 2.20 ERA, .226 opponent batting average and 30 strikeouts (to two walks) in 41 innings pitched. He had allowed 11 hits and no earned runs, while issuing 14 strikeouts and only one walk, in previous 17.1 innings pitched to that point of the season.

What Happened Next
The MIAC Tournament was expanded to six teams, with two play-in games May 10 that fed into the normal four-team, double-elimination format May 11-13 at CHS Field in St. Paul. The Johnnies went 2-2 and finished second, but were left out of the NCAA Division III Tournament when the 58-team field was announced seven days later (May 13) despite a school-record 33 wins (33-8 record).

Five of SJU's eight losses were by a single run. Outside of the MIAC opener April 11 at Gustavus Adolphus and the non-conference game April 29 at St. Scholastica, SJU's regular-season schedule was comprised of four stretches of games in a limited amount of days. The condensed scheduled failed to thwart the Johnnies, who posted a 29-5 record in 21 days.

The 2018 Johnnies became the first team in school history to win 30 regular-season games.