The Johnnie baseball team travels to face Bethel for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday, April 21, in Arden Hills. - Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (15-8, 5-7 MIAC) completed the three-game sweep of Augsburg with an 11-5 win on Sunday (April 18) at Becker Park. SJU cruised to the doubleheader sweep, 16-1 and 9-0, on Saturday in Minneapolis. 

The Johnnies totaled 14 hits, including two home runs and five doubles (two ground-rule) in Sunday's victory. After a quiet first and second inning at the plate, SJU raked in three runs with six consecutive hits with two outs. Junior catcher Ethan Roe (Golden Valley, Minn./Blake) brought in the fourth and fifth runs with a two-run homer, his ninth of the season. 

Sophomore designated hitter Max Nyrop (Alameda, Calif.) broke the game open with a grand slam, his fourth home run of the season, to up the Johnnies' lead to 10-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman outfielder Jack Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.) recorded the first four-hit game of his collegiate career.

Sophomore Alex Otto (Monticello, Minn.) made his first start of the season (second of his collegiate career) and allowed five runs (two earned) on eight hits to improve to 4-0 on the year. He struck out six in 6.2 innings. Sophomore Cade Marsolek (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) made his first pitching appearance since March 10, due to injury, and allowed four hits with two strikeouts in 2.1 scoreless innings of relief.

The Johnnies batted .402 (43-for-107) with a .617 slugging percentage (16 extra-base hits) in the three-game series against the Auggies. 

SOLID PITCHING: Seven Johnnie pitchers combined to post an impressive 1.10 ERA - five earned runs allowed in 41 innings – and a .231 opponent batting average (37-for-160) with 43 strikeouts in the five games last week. 

9 FOR ROE: Ethan Roe's nine home runs ties him with Matt Ode '98, Tony Giuliani '99 and Jay Kasner '07 for the third-most in an SJU season. Brent Schloe '00 clubbed 11 in 2000 and Joey Stock '20 set the record with 12 in 2019. 

GRAND SLAM: Nyrop's grand slam Sunday was the first by a Johnnie since Stock hit two in the same game against U.S. Merchant Marine (N.Y.) during the 2018 spring-break trip in Ft. Myers, Fla. Stock, also the designated hitter at the time, hit one in the first inning and followed it with another in the sixth. The last SJU position player to hit a grand slam was shortstop Logan Hershey '16 vs. Concordia in the 2015 MIAC Tournament (at Minnetonka). 

STAT COMPARISONS: Saint John's and Bethel are very similar statistically at this point of the season.

Batting Average
-BU, .294
-SJU, .289

Slugging Percentage
-SJU, .465
-BU, .425

On-Base Percentage
-BU, .390
-SJU, .368

ERA
-SJU, 3.27
-BU, 3.51

Opponent Batting Average
-SJU, .235
-BU, .253

Fielding Percentage
-BU, .973
-SJU, .955

A LOOK AT THE ROYALS: Bethel (15-7, 9-3 MIAC) returns to the field for the first time since last Thursday (April 15) when it finished a previously halted game against Carleton with an 8-6 win and followed that with a 14-3 victory to complete a three-game, series sweep of the Knights. The Royals gathered the final three outs of the halted game from April 5 in Northfield, the second game of a doubleheader that was stopped due to darkness, before run-ruling the Knights in game three.

BU did not see St. Thomas Andrew Tri or Graham Laubscher and split with the Tommies a day earlier (April 14). Wednesday's doubleheader against SJU are Nos. 6 and 7 of a nine-game homestand. Junior Caleb Brandt leads the team in hits (24), runs (17) and stolen bases (13), while senior Matthew Bohlke is 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA, .192 opponent batting average and 39 strikeouts in 34.1 innings pitched. Junior Marcus Krupke is tied for the team lead in RBI (13) as a .327 hitter, and leads the BU pitching staff in wins (5-0) and innings (36.1).

TWO YEARS AGO: The Johnnies swept the Royals, 7-6 and 9-3, the last time these two teams met on April 16, 2019, in Arden Hills. SJU broke open a 2-2 game with five two-out runs in the top of the fifth inning and held on for a 7-6 win the opener. The Johnnies scored another five-run inning, this time to pad a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning, to take the nightcap and earn the sweep.

Saint John's 7, at Bethel 6
Bethel gained an early 1-0 lead on a rare bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the first inning, as Jake Dickmeyer '19 recorded three walks and struck out three in the first inning. 

Joey Stock '20 tied the game at 2-2 with a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the fourth inning. The blast was his third of the season and seventh of his career.

The Johnnies broke the game open with five, two-out runs in the top of the fifth inning. Michael Gruber '20 started the two-out rally with an infield single and Jack Wingerd '19 came around to score on an RBI single from Wyatt Ulrich '20. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch before Max Jackson '19 stroked a two-run single to center. Jack Schramel '20 brought him in with a double to left and Stock followed with a single up the middle to end Jake Marsh's afternoon. Marsh retired the first 10 Johnnies he faced.

The Royals cut their deficit to 7-6, however, with four two-out runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Parker Mullenbach, who entered the game batting .236 with two extra-base hits (two doubles) in 55 at-bats this spring, jacked a three-run homer and BU added another unearned run.

Both teams threatened but failed to change the score. Ulrich gunned down the potential game-tying run at the plate to end the sixth inning, while SJU loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the seventh and did not score.

Dickmeyer earned the win, improving to 5-2 on the year. He allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits in five innings, struck out five and walked five. He became the third Johnnie to pitch 200 career innings (202.1). Alex Budde '19 surrendered four hits in two innings of scoreless relief to earn his third save of the season.

Saint John's 9, at Bethel 3
The Johnnies jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI single from Ethan Roe in the second inning and a sac fly from Stock in the third. The Royals answered with a run in the bottom of the third, but Thomas Meland '19 extended SJU's lead to 4-1 with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning. The big fly was his first of the season and fifth of his career.

Like game one, BU answered right away with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. The potential game-tying run, however, was thrown out at home: Wingerd-to-Bennett Wiggins '19-to-Roe.

Roe doubled to start the ninth and advanced to third when Gruber's sac-bunt attempt turned into a hit. BU's first baseman attempted to catch Gruber too far off third base, but his throw was wide of the mark and sailed into the dugout, allowing the run to score. Schramel made it 6-3 with an RBI double before Stock blasted his second home run of the doubleheader, this time a three-run shot, to end the scoring at 9-3.

Danny Kuhn '19 moved his season record to 5-1, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. He struck out five and walked two.

Wiggins picked up the 3.2-inning save, his first of the season and second of his career, allowing only one hit with four strikeouts.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 42-28 against BU since 1988, including a 20-12 record on the Royals' home field. Nine of the last 14 meetings overall were decided by two runs or less (a 4-5 SJU record).