Saint John's baseball opens its 2023 season with three neutral-site games against Luther (Iowa) this Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25-26, on the University of Saint Mary campus in Leavenworth, Kan. The two teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday, followed by a single, nine-inning game at noon Sunday.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's baseball finished second in the MIAC with a 15-5 record (24-17 overall) and made their 12th consecutive appearance in the MIAC Tournament in 2022. 

SJU led the conference with six All-MIAC honorees last spring, of which four return in 2023: senior second baseman Owen Dauk (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview), senior first baseman Max Nyrop (Alameda, Calif.), senior pitcher Casey Trapp (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) and junior center fielder Jordan Amundson (Eden Prairie, Minn.).

Here's a look at the 2023 Johnnies:

Season No. 46
The 2023 season will be head coach Jerry Haugen's 46th at the helm of the Johnnie baseball program. Haugen '76 has compiled an 912-688-5 (.570) career record, including a 229-105 (.686) mark over the past nine seasons. He earned his 900th career win in game one of the Johnnies' doubleheader sweep of Hamline on April 13 in Collegeville.

Home Run Record - Part 2
SJU's program record for home runs (39) set in 2021 lasted only one season as the Johnnies hit 51 last spring. Both seasons consisted of 41 games. Seven Johnnies hit five homers or more in 2022 and SJU returns 32 of the 51 this season.

Trapped at the Plate
Trapp set a single-season record for strikeouts with 73, surpassing the previous mark of 71 set by Andy Schneider '00 in 1998, and totaled a 5-1 record with a 3.63 ERA and .234 opponent batting average in a team-best 74.1 innings pitched last season. He led the MIAC in innings pitched (42.1) and was second in strikeouts (42) across nine conference appearances (six starts). His lone loss was a complete-game one-hitter April 19 at St. Scholastica. Trapp enters his senior season seventh in program history with 139 strikeouts, 62 behind the program record of 201 owned by Joel Swenson '99.

Others on the Mound
In addition to Trapp, SJU returns a pair of junior right-handed pitchers in Kody Dalen (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen) and Griffin Larson (Edina, Minn.) to the rotation. Dalen made nine starts (10 appearances) and went 2-1 with a 4.47 ERA in 52.1 innings. He finished second on the team with 50 strikeouts. Larson, meanwhile, made 14 appearances, with three starts, and struck out 46 batters in 33 innings. Opponents batted only .218 against him.

Nyrop in the Record Book
The All-MIAC honor was the second-consecutive for Nyrop, who earned All-Region and All-America honors in 2021. He ended the 2022 season with a 20-game hit streak (24-game on-base streak) and led the team in hits (55), while batting .383 (18-for-47) with runners in scoring position and .467 (7-for-15) in three MIAC Tournament games. Nyrop reached base safely in all 20 MIAC games and tied for the conference lead in doubles (8), while finishing third in RBI (26) in league play. He enters his senior season fourth in program history in home runs (18), seven away from Ethan Roe's '22 record, and tied for 10th in RBI (90), 20 RBI behind Max Jackson's '19 record.

Approaching 100 Career Hits
Nyrop became the 34th Johnnie to reach 100 career hits last April and is destined to be joined by four teammates this season. Dauk is 23 away with 77 in his career, followed by junior outfielder Rodney Erickson (St. Paul, Minn./Woodbury) with 73, junior outfielder Jack Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.) with 71 and junior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) with 65.

The Infield's Other Returning Starters
SJU returns a pair of starting infielders, Becker and Dauk, who each clubbed five homers last season. Dauk started all 41 games at second base and led the Johnnies in on-base percentage (.497), thanks to a .354 batting average with 23 walks and was hit-by-pitch 15 times, and tied with Soren Roe '22 for the team-lead in runs scored (37). He recorded a team-best, 25-game on-base streak during the season and batted .459 (28-for-61) with the bases empty. Dauk became SJU's all-time hit-by-pitch leader with 35 last season.

Becker also started all 41 games, at third base, and batted .303 with 17 extra-base hits, 34 runs scored and 32 RBI last season. 

At catcher, the Johnnies need to replace a four-year starter in Ethan Roe, who graduated from SJU and is now using is extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic as a graduate student at Division I East Tennessee State. The leading candidates are seniors Matt Herold (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) and Zach Selchow (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview). Herold played five games with three starts last season, while Selchow started 16: seven at catcher, seven at first base and two others as the team's designated hitter.

Three Transfers
Three transfers are expected to contribute to SJU right away in 2023. Junior first baseman/designated hitter Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) batted .262 (17-for-65) with five doubles, a triple and 11 RBI in 31 games (23 starts) as a freshman at St. Thomas in 2021. Sophomore infielder Jackson Peter (Elrosa, Minn./Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa) batted .392 (47-for-120) with five home runs, six doubles, 32 RBI and 26 runs scored for St. Cloud Technical and Community College as the Cyclones went 26-13 and reached the NJCAA World Series last spring. Senior righty Wyatt Rudolf (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen) struck out 34 over 38.1 innings (22 appearances, two starts) for two seasons at Division II Concordia-St. Paul.

Juniors in the Outfield
Three juniors saw plenty of action in the outfield last season. Amundson played all 41 games (35 starts) and finished second on the team in triples (3) and homers (8) in his first season as a Johnnie. He started all 20 MIAC games in center field and finished third in the conference in slugging percentage (.750) and fourth in home runs (7), while leading the team in stolen bases (6) and finished second in batting (.375) in league play. 

Two others, Erickson and Schleper, suffered a bit of a sophomore slump statistically last spring compared to their freshman seasons in 2021. Erickson played 34 games (30 starts) and batted .226 with 20 runs scored and 10 RBI. He posted a .322 batting average with 36 runs and 24 RBI in 2021. Schleper, meanwhile, clubbed five home runs and eight doubles, but batted .210 a year after his .324 average as a freshman.

2023's Non-Conference Schedule
The Johnnies' 40-game schedule includes 30 non-conference contests comprised of 15 different opponents. The 15 teams combined for a 344-271-1 (.559) record in 2022 and includes three that reached the NCAA Tournament: Baldwin Wallace (37-13), Crown (30-15) and Lebanon Valley (30-16). Baldwin Wallace advanced to the Division III World Series.

Following this weekend's games against Luther in Kansas, SJU travels to Florida for seven games - three in Port Charlotte and four in Ft. Myers - over a span of six days. The Johnnies visit Northwestern March 14 for a doubleheader in Roseville before they venture to Tucson, Ariz., for six games over three days March 18-20. SJU hosts Crown for its home opener on March 25 and finishes the non-conference slate, after the MIAC's regular season, May 8 at home vs. Minnesota-Morris.

The MIAC (Home) Schedule
The Johnnies open MIAC play April 1 against Concordia in Moorhead and are scheduled to host doubleheaders against the following MIAC opponents:

-Saint Mary's (Tuesday, April 4)
-St. Olaf (Saturday, April 15)
-Bethel (Wednesday, April 26)
-Gustavus Adolphus for Senior Day (Saturday, April 29)
-St. Scholastica (Tuesday, May 2)

For the fourth time in the facility's history (2016, 2017, 2021), the double-elimination MIAC Tournament will be held at Becker Park in Collegeville. The four-team tournament is scheduled for May 11-13.

A LOOK AT THE NORSE: Luther ended the 2022 season with a 22-20 record (13-11 ARC) and was picked to finish third in the American Rivers Conference (ARC) when its preseason poll was announced Feb. 15. The Norse's top returners include fifth-year pitcher Ryan Manternach, senior infielder Cullen Stamp and senior first baseman Joshua Matanich. Manternach was named to the All-ARC first team a year ago after leading the team with a 2.77 ERA, 4-4 record (13 appearances, 12 starts) and 49 strikeouts in 68.1 innings. Stamp was All-ARC honorable mention and hit .295 with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs, 13 RBI and 38 runs scored. Stamp also led the team with a perfect 20 stolen bases on 20 attempts. Matanich led the Norse last season with a .353 batting average. He totaled 36 RBI and 55 hits, including 12 doubles and five homers.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 7-3 in 10 known meetings with the Norse, going all the way back to May 27, 1916; a 2-1 win for SJU in Collegeville. The two teams last met in 2019, when the Johnnies took two of three games on March 23-24, 2019, in Collegeville: W, 6-4; L, 7-12; and W, 2-1.