Game 1 Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Saint John's baseball suffered its first loss of the season, 8-6 in nine innings, to Bethany Lutheran in the first game of an early-morning (5:30 a.m. start) doubleheader on Wednesday, March 2, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. 

The second game was halted in the bottom of the sixth inning, with the Johnnies trailing 8-2, due to the venue's time limit. The game may be completed later this season. If not, the result and statistics do not count.

Down 5-2 in the top of the seventh inning, Bethany Lutheran (1-0 overall) scored three runs to tie the game - before an out was recorded - and three more in the top of the ninth.

The Johnnies (2-1 overall) built a 4-0 lead with a pair of runs each in the second and fifth innings. A walk and back-to-back singles scored the game's first run – an RBI single from junior first baseman Zach Selchow (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) – and junior second baseman Owen Dauk (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) made it 2-0 with a squeeze bunt.

Junior designated hitter Max Nyrop (Alameda, Calif.) extended the Johnnies' lead to 3-0 with a two-out, RBI single in the fifth and junior shortstop Matthew Hayford (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes) scored on a wild pitch. Hayford ended the scoring with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the ninth inning.

BLC cut its deficit in half (4-2) with two runs in the sixth, though sophomore third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) gave a run back to SJU with a two-out, RBI single in the bottom half of the inning. Becker is batting .600 (6-for-10) with five runs scored and four RBI from the No. 9 spot in the lineup through the season's first three games.

Sophomore Kody Dalen (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen) made the start on the mound, the fourth of his collegiate career, and struck out five with three hits allowed in four scoreless innings.

The Johnnies travel to Florida for 11 games - six in Ft. Myers and five in Port Charlotte - over a span of nine days March 5-13.