Saint John's baseball plays host to Concordia-Moorhead at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at Haugen Field at Becker Park in Collegeville. – Live Stats/Live Video

VISITING TEAM AT HOME: SJU will be the "visiting" team in the doubleheader, which was scheduled to be the MIAC opener for both teams on April 1 in Moorhead. The games were postponed and moved to Collegeville - due to the construction of CC's new grandstand - for April 2 and again to Wednesday (April 19), but the weather forecast is more favorable for tomorrow.

ST. OLAF RESCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY: The doubleheader scheduled for today (April 17) between SJU and St. Olaf was postponed and rescheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, April 23, in Collegeville. The games were originally scheduled for this past Saturday (April 15) and were postponed ahead of the weekend's precipitation to Monday, but Sunday's snowfall made the field unplayable.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (13-10, 4-2 MIAC) saw its eight-game win streak end with a pair of losses, 6-4 and 7-5, to Hamline last Wednesday (April 12) at CHS Field in St. Paul.
 
The Johnnies, who entered the doubleheader batting .397 (50-for-126) over their previous four games, went just 14-for-64 (.219) at the plate against the Pipers. Opponents had batted nearly 100 points better (.318) vs. HU in the previous 21 games. 
 
SJU's leadoff batter reached base safely only once in the doubleheader's 16 innings, to HU's 9-for-14 showing. The Johnnies batted .444 with runners in scoring position, but only in nine opportunities (4-for-9), while the Pipers were 8-for-25 (.320).
 
Hamline's sweep of the Johnnies was its first in 10 years (April 27, 2013; 4-1 and 2-1 at Midway Stadium).
 
Game 1
Hamline struck first when a leadoff walk came around to score – following a sacrifice bunt, stolen base and RBI groundout – in the bottom of the first inning.
 
Sophomore shortstop Jackson Peter (Elrosa, Minn./Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa) tied the game at 1-1 when he started the second inning with his second home run of the season, but the Pipers took advantage of a Texas-league single to start the bottom half of the inning, which scored on a double from Owen Christenson. HU added another run in the third inning on a two-out, RBI single from Mac Enlow and plated three more in the fifth for a 6-1 lead.
 
SJU cut its deficit to 6-4 with three two-out runs in the top of the sixth inning. Back-to-back doubles from Peter and junior left fielder Jack Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.) gave the Johnnies their first run since the second inning and senior catcher Matt Herold (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) followed with his second homer of the season.
 
HU's Zach Branson, who entered the game at 1-5 with a 9.42 ERA and a .358 opponent batting average in 28.2 innings this spring, earned the complete-game win. He surrendered the four runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and one free pass (a walk). SJU recorded three infield pop-ups and four foul-outs in game one.
 
Junior Kody Dalen (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen) took the loss, allowing the six runs – his first of the season (first 8.1 innings were scoreless) – on eight hits. He struck out five and walked two. Sophomore Kade Bowar (Burnsville, Minn.) pitched a scoreless sixth inning in relief.
 
Game 2
SJU gained an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI groundout from junior center fielder Jordan Amundson (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and senior designated hitter Max Nyrop (Alameda, Calif.) scored on a passed ball, but the Pipers scored three runs – two unearned – with two outs in the bottom half.
 
Junior right fielder Rodney Erickson (St. Paul, Minn./Woodbury) clubbed his first homer of the season (third of his career) with two outs in the top of the second inning to tie the game at 3-3. The deadlock did not last long as HU re-gained the lead with an unearned, two-out run in the bottom half of the second.
 
The back-and-forth game continued in the third as the Johnnies plated two runs – an RBI double from Amundson and an RBI single from Schleper – to go ahead 5-4. HU tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fourth and picked up its third lead of the game, 7-5, with two runs in the fifth.
 
Senior lefty Casey Trapp (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) took the loss (2-3 record), allowing seven runs (four earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts in four innings. Senior Jack Haring (Ham Lake, Minn./Blaine) surrendered an RBI double and recorded the three outs to finish the fifth inning. Senior Cade Marsolek (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) gave up one hit and struck out four over the final three scoreless innings.
 
Amundson (3-for-8) and Schleper (3-for-7) led SJU's bats with a double and two RBI each on the afternoon.

STREAKING: Nyrop saw his on-base streak end at 43 games – the final 24 games of 2022 and his first 19 of this season – following game one's loss last Wednesday at Hamline. The streak was SJU's longest going back to the stat's start in 2012. The next closest is Becker, who is currently riding a 27-game on-base streak (final four games of 2022, first 23 games this season). The mark is tied with three others: Soren Roe '22 (2021/2022), Wyatt Ulrich '20 (2017) and Gabe MacDonald '16 (2015).

SCHLEPPIN' IT: Schleper extended his hit streak to a team-best 10 games with a 3-for-7 day at the plate last Wednesday at Hamline. He has batted .421 (16-for-38) with nine runs scored, 11 RBI, three doubles and two triples over the 10 games.  

GETTING CLOSE: Becker needs only one hit to become the 35th Johnnie to reach 100 for his career. Schleper is not far behind at 97, while senior second baseman Owen Dauk (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) has 96 and junior right fielder Rodney Erickson (St. Paul, Minn./Woodbury) has 86.

STAT COMPARISONS
Batting Average
-SJU, .303
-CC, .297

Extra-Base Hits
-SJU, 65 (47 doubles, 6 triples, 12 home runs)
-CC, 50 (41 doubles, 8 triples, 1 home run)

Opponent Batting Average
-SJU, .280
-CC, .283

ERA
-CC, 4.65
-SJU, 5.36

Fielding Percentage
-CC, .957
-SJU, .955

A LOOK AT THE COBBERS: Concordia (12-12, 6-2 MIAC) won all six of its games last week, including a sweep of Carleton, 5-3 (eight innings) and 15-1 (seven innings) on Friday (April 14) in Northfield. The Cobbers swept St. Scholastica (13-2 and 14-5) on Wednesday (April 12) in Duluth and came back to top Augsburg twice (16-10 and 10-9) on Monday (April 10) in Collegeville. Fifth-year outfielder Andy Gravdahl became the Cobbers' all-time hit leader last week after he had at least three hits in five of the six wins. He broke Concordia head coach Chris Coste's career hits record of 162 in the second game vs. St. Scholastica and batted .607 (17-for-28) with a 1.74 OPS, nine extra-base hits and 10 RBI in the six victories. Gravdahl (20 RBI) leads CC in nearly every offensive category this season, second only to sophomore Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe's 28 RBI.

LAST SEASON: SJU opened its conference schedule with a doubleheader sweep of Concordia, 9-8 in eight innings and 6-0, last April 2 (2022) in Collegeville. The Johnnies clubbed nine extra-base hits, including three home runs, on the afternoon and held the Cobbers scoreless in the day's final 10 innings.
 
Trapp struck out a career-high 13 batters in game two's complete-game shutout. The 13 strikeouts were the most by a Johnnie since another southpaw, Michael Crees '09, struck out 13 against Bethany Lutheran on April 24, 2006, in Collegeville. 
 
at Saint John's 9, Concordia 8 (8 inn.)
SJU built a 6-0 lead through the first two innings of game one. Ethan Roe '22 roped a two-run double for his 100th career hit, becoming the 33rd Johnnie in program history to reach the milestone, and senior catcher Zach Selchow (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly in the first inning.

Soren Roe '22 ripped a two-run triple off the center-field fence with two outs in the second inning and Ethan followed with his second double of the game to give SJU a 6-0 lead.
 
The Cobbers were held scoreless, and to two hits, through the first four innings of play before they erupted for eight runs on six hits in the fifth inning off Nathan Brandecker '22.
 
The lead did not last long, however, as Schleper followed Selchow's leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run blast to tie the game at 8-8.
 
Soren Roe walked to start the bottom of the eighth and advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Ethan, after he collided with the first baseman on the bag. CC elected to intentionally walk Amundson before Selchow ended the game with a walk-off single over the right fielder's head.
 
Junior Griffin Larson (Edina, Minn.) earned the win, allowing two hits with two strikeouts in three scoreless innings of relief.
 
Ethan Roe, Schleper, Selchow and Becker all had two hits apiece. Soren Roe went 1-for-1, thanks to three walks, and scored three runs with two RBI in the victory.
 
SJU's defense turned three double plays but the offense left 10 men on base.
 
at Saint John's 6, Concordia 0
The early runs continued for SJU in game two as the home team plated four in the first inning. Nyrop stroked an RBI double and scored when Ethan Roe's groundball to shortstop was misplayed. Amundson made the Cobbers pay by blasting his second home run of the season in the next at-bat.
 
Ethan Roe ended the game's scoring with a two-run shot, his fourth homer of the season, in the third inning. 
 
Trapp took care of the rest, allowing two hits and two walks in the 112-pitch shutout. He had a no-hitter through the first 4.2 innings. A Concordia baserunner reached second base twice in the game. The first was a leadoff walk in the sixth inning, which advanced to second on the second out (a groundout), and the other was a one-out double in the seventh.
 
Amundson and Dauk led the Johnnies' bats with two hits each in the nightcap.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU leads the series with a 37-32 record against CC since 1989, including a 16-16 mark in Collegeville. The Johnnies swept the last three doubleheaders at Becker Park and have won the last nine games overall. Nine (7-2 SJU record) of the last 14 matchups, and 14 (10-4 record) of the last 21, were decided by two runs or less.