Saint John's baseball hosts Crown for its home opener - a 12:30 p.m. doubleheader - on Sunday, March 20, at Becker Park in Collegeville. - Live Stats/Live Video

SCHEDULE SHAKE-UP: SJU's was moved up to Sunday's doubleheader, which was originally scheduled for next Wednesday (March 23), due to the pleasant weather forecast. The Johnnies' original home opener was a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader against Northwestern (Minn.) on Tuesday, March 22, which has been moved up a day to 3 p.m. Monday, March 21.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (5-9 overall) posted a 3-8 record over its 11-game, nine-day spring-break trip last week (March 5-13) in Florida. The Johnnies went 2-4 in Ft. Myers, in which three of the four losses were by one run and the other was in extra innings, and 1-4 in Port Charlotte. SJU started the five-game schedule in Port Charlotte with a 20-8 win over then-No. 2 Marietta (Ohio), which is now ranked No. 1, but lost the next four. The three of the four opponents are either ranked nationally (No. 5 North Central and No. 15 Denison) or receiving votes (Wooster).  

THE GOOD: The Johnnies hit 11 home runs over the 11-game road stretch and batted .324 (33-for-102) with runners in scoring position, including .400 (6-for-15) with the bases loaded. Individually, senior outfielder Soren Roe (Golden Valley, Minn./Blake) led the SJU bats with a .359 average (14-for-39) and a .432 on-base percentage. His 14th hit of the trip - a single in the first inning against Heidelberg (Ohio) - served as his 100th collegiate hit and 65th at SJU. He collected 35 hits as a freshman at Macalester in 2019.

THE BAD: The Johnnies batted .223 (27-for-121) with two outs and 31 of the 81 strikeouts at the plate were looking. The pitching staff, meanwhile, posted a 7.23 ERA and issued 72 free passes - 39 walks and 33 hit batsmen - in 93.1 innings pitched. The opposition batted .332 with 33 extra-base hits (23 doubles, four triples and six homers).

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Senior catcher Ethan Roe (Golden Valley, Minn./Blake) was named the MIAC Baseball Athlete of the Week for the third time of his career on Monday (March 14). He batted .412 (14-for-34) with a 1.106 OPS, two home runs, four doubles and 16 RBI in eight games last week (March 7-13). On Thursday (March 10), Roe went 4-for-6 with a three-run homer and three runs scored in SJU's 20-8 win over second-ranked Marietta (Ohio) and hit a grand slam later in the day in a 12-9, 13-inning loss to Heidelberg (Ohio). 

He batted .643 (9-for-14) with runners on base and .778 (7-for-9) with runners in scoring position on the week. Behind the plate, Roe threw out five baserunners attempting to steal (4-for-9).

Roe is currently fifth in program history with 15 career home runs and needs five hits to become the 33rd Johnnie to record 100 career hits.

A LOOK AT THE STORM: Crown (7-4 overall) ended its Florida trip March 4-11 - between Auburndale and Davenport - with four straight wins (out-scoring the opposition 48-16 in the four games). Graduate student Seth Betts leads the team with a .409 batting average (18-for-44) and .480 on-best percentage. Graduate student Eric Newman, a transfer from Division II Minnesota-Crookston, has made three starts on the mound so far this spring and is 2-0 with a 4.40 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 14.1 innings. Crown's roster is comprised of student-athletes from 21 different states.

LAST SPRING: SJU clubbed a school-record six home runs, including three from Ethan Roe, in a 13-10 win over Crown last March 7 (2021) in Collegeville.

The three homers - the first of his collegiate career - tied Roe with four other Johnnies, the most recent being Matt Ode '98 (April 15, 1997, at Gustavus Adolphus), for SJU's single-game record. Roe's 14 total bases, thanks to an eighth-inning double, set an SJU record. Roe finished 4-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored.

He later recorded another 3-homer game, two weeks later against Bethany Lutheran, en route to a single-season record of 13 dingers last spring.

Roe's third homer of the game, a no-doubter to left to leadoff the bottom of the seventh, broke a 10-10- tie. A two-run shot from Nyrop padded the Johnnies' lead and ended the scoring in the bottom of the eighth. Nyrop finished 3-for-4 with three RBI.

SJU totaled 15 hits, 10 for extra bases. Crown, meanwhile, cracked 11 hits but was 0-for-6 with the bases loaded and left 14 men on base. The Storm's first eight runs scored with two outs.

The Johnnies threw a different pitcher each of the first seven innings until Nick Penick '21 closed the door with a two-inning save. He struck out four and did not allow a baserunner. The previous seven pitchers issued 10 free passes (seven walks and three hit batsmen). 

Soren Roe tripled in his first plate appearance and crushed a two-run homer in the third inning. Junior third baseman Zach Selchow (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) also went 2-for-5.

SJU erased a 5-1 deficit with four runs in both the second and third innings. Outfielder Trey Cavello '21 started the second-inning rally with his first collegiate home run and Ethan Roe followed with his first homer of the day two pitches later.

Down 11-10 with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Crown's Mason Brock looked to have tripled off the base of the left-field pole. The Johnnies, however, appealed to first base and Brock was called out for missing the bag, ending the inning (and scoring threat).