Saint John's baseball will take advantage of this weekend's warm weather by hosting Crown for 9-inning, non-conference game at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 7, at Becker Park. – Live Stats/Live Video

SORRY, NO FANS THIS SUNDAY: Spectators will not be allowed in or around Becker Park on Sunday. SJU athletics is working with institutional administration to craft an outdoor spectator policy for future home events.

A LOOK AT JOHNNIES: Saint John's returns a young team in 2021 after graduating 13 seniors, including all four starters in the infield, two outfield starters and three pitchers that saw significant time on the mound. SJU went 7-1 in the COVID-19 shortened season - all during the annual spring-break trip in Fort Myers, Fla. - and was picked to win the conference championship in the 2020 MIAC Preseason Coaches' poll.

Here's a look at the 2021 Johnnies:

Season No. 44
The 2021 season is the 44th for Jerry Haugen '76 as head coach of the Johnnies. Haugen has compiled an 859-659-5 (.566) career record, including a 129-50 (.721) mark over the past five seasons. 

Roe x 2 
The junior Roe (Golden Valley, Minn./Blake) twins, catcher Ethan and outfielder Soren, serve as SJU's two returning starters in the field in 2021. Soren transferred to SJU after playing in 2019 at Macalester, where he was one of two freshmen to earn All-MIAC honors. He started all eight games in the outfield for SJU last spring and hit .300 (6-for-20) with one home run, seven RBI and two stolen bases. Ethan, meanwhile, started six games behind the plate as a sophomore and hit .250 (5-for-20), with one double, five runs scored and four RBI. Ethan started 35 games as a freshman in 2019 and batted .271 with 10 doubles and 17 RBI.

Brandecker & Penick - Decent Law Firm Title, Better Pitching Duo
Junior Nathan Brandecker (South St. Paul, Minn.) and senior Nick Penick (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) are
the most experienced returning pitchers for SJU, as both have made 12 career appearances on the hill. Last season, Brandecker went 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 4.2 innings of work. As a freshman in 2019, Brandecker went 3-1 with a 3.14 ERA in 28.2 innings over 11 appearances (two starts) with 20 strikeouts. 

Penick made two appearances in relief last season, accumulating a 1-0 record with a 2.25 ERA over four innings pitched. He struck out 10 batters in 11.1 innings (nine relief appearances) with a 4.76 ERA in 2019.

Another Johnnie Lark
Sophomore southpaw Sam Hanson (Sartell, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral) returns after spending last summer pitching for the Northwoods League's Bismarck Larks alongside former All-MIAC outfielder Wyatt Ulrich '20. He tallied a 1-3 record with 26 strikeouts in 17.1 innings (nine appearances). Last season for SJU, Hanson made one start on the mound against then-No. 13 North Central (Ill.) and struck out six in 2.1 innings of work. 

Plenty of Sophomore Arms
In addition to Hanson, SJU will rely on a number of other sophomore arms to contribute throughout the pitching rotation and in relief this season, as several return after seeing time as freshmen a year ago. 

- Brock Brumley (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) made one start a season ago, throwing six innings, striking out seven, while allowing one run to earn the win.
- Matt Herold (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) made one relief appearance (in which he picked up the win), throwing three innings and striking out seven.
- Braden Higgins (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) made two appearances, going 2-0 with 11 strikeouts in six innings.
- Cade Marsolek (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) started two games, including a three-inning performance against Bluffton (Ohio), where he struck out four and allowed one earned run.
- Alex Otto (Silver Creek, Minn./Monticello) made three appearances (one start), totaling nine strikeouts and a 1.80 ERA in five innings. 
- Casey Trapp (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) appeared in two games, including one start, and struck out five in five innings. 

New MIAC Format This Spring
The MIAC baseball season will begin an expanded 12-round conference season on Friday, April 2, with mid-week and Saturday dates for doubleheaders, and Sundays designated for single nine-inning games. Teams may begin competing in non-conference contests as early as March 5. Conference make-up games will be allowed only within each scheduled round. 

The 2021 MIAC Baseball Tournament will move back one week to May 19-22, in accordance with the NCAA Tournament also shifting to a week later. The team with the best conference winning percentage that has played at least 51 percent of its scheduled conference games after Round 11 of the regular season will be named conference champion and receive the No. 1 seed in the MIAC Tournament. 

Teams ranked 2-11 in the conference standings after Round 11 will compete in a best-of-three series during Round 12 to qualify into the MIAC Tournament. The team ranked No. 2 in the standings by straight winning percentage will play the team ranked No. 11, No. 3 will play No. 10, etc., with the low seed (i.e. No. 11) hosting a 9-inning game on Saturday, May 15, and the high seed (i.e. No. 2) hosting two 9-inning games on Sunday, May 16. All three games of the series will be played. Teams that win the Round 12 three-game series will retain their regular-season seeding position and advance to the MIAC Tournament, which will be expanded to include six teams this season.

The first round of the conference tournament will follow a single-elimination "play-in" format followed by the traditional four-team double-elimination format over the final three days of playoff competition. The top two seeds in the tournament will automatically advance to the four-team double-elimination format. In the play-in round, No. 3 will host No. 6 and No. 4 will host No. 5. The location and host for the four-team double-elimination portion is yet to be determined.

SJU's MIAC (Home) Schedule
The Johnnies open MIAC play Good Friday (April 2) with a nine-inning game at Gustavus Adolphus and return home for two games against the Gusties the following day.

In addition to Gustavus, the Johnnies are scheduled to host opponents as part of a three-game, weekend series: 
- St. Thomas (one game on April 11)
- Augsburg (one game on April 18) 
- Carleton (doubleheader on April 24) 
- Hamline (doubleheader on May 1)
- St. Olaf (one game on May 9)

SJU will also host mid-week MIAC doubleheaders against Saint Mary's (April 14) and Macalester (April 28), and in turn visit Concordia (April 7) and Bethel (April 21).

The Rest of the Schedule
The 2021 season for SJU will look quite different than previous years, as the Johnnies will not open their season with trips to Florida and Arizona due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to Sunday's season opener vs. Crown, SJU is scheduled to play doubleheaders at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis: March 10 vs. Bethany Lutheran, March 17 vs. Northland (Wis.) and March 24 vs. St. Thomas (non-conference).

SJU is scheduled to play home-and-home doubleheaders March 20-21 against Bethany Lutheran and host Wisconsin-Superior March 27. The Johnnies' final non-conference contest is set for May 5 vs. Minnesota-Morris.

A LOOK AT THE STORM: Crown (2-2 overall) opened its 2021 season with a pair of doubleheaders at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Storm were swept by St. Norbert (Wis.) on Saturday (Feb. 27), 9-1 and 13-11, but bounced back with two wins Tuesday (March 2) against Wisconsin-Superior, 9-4 and 18-4.  Freshman Mason Brock and junior Kyle Schroedle lead the Crown bats through the first four games. Brock has a 1.889 slugging percentage, thanks to six extra-base hits, while Schroedle has four doubles and nine RBI. Freshman Liam Jones has five hits and two doubles. All three have a home run. Crown's 41-man roster consists of 20 freshmen. Only five student-athletes hail from Minnesota, while 18 other states are represented, as well as Australia. 

SERIES HISTORY: Sunday's meeting is the first for SJU and Crown on the baseball diamond. Members of the Johnnies' cross country team raced at Crown in October 2018, while SJU soccer served as the last team sports to compete against the Storm on Sept. 8, 2012 (a 5-0 road win).