Saint John's baseball travels to Florida for eight games – four in Port Charlotte and four in Ft. Myers – over a span of seven days from March 3-9.

THE TRIP: The Johnnies start the trip Sunday vs. Otterbein (Ohio), the first of four games in Port Charlotte, before traveling southeast to play the remaining four games in Ft. Myers. 

Port Charlotte, Fla. 
-Sunday, March 3: Otterbein (Ohio), 11 a.m. ET – Live Stats | Live Video
-Monday, March 4: Heidelberg (Ohio), 11 a.m. ET – Live Stats | Live Video (PPV); No. 14 Misericordia (Pa.), 2 p.m. ET – Live Stats | Live Video (PPV)
-Tuesday, March 5: No. 20 Marietta (Ohio), 10 a.m. ET – Live Stats | Live Video (PPV)

Ft. Myers, Fla. 
-Thursday, March 7: Hiram (Ohio), 9 a.m. ET – Live Stats
-Friday, March 8: Baruch (N.Y.; DH), 3 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. ET
-Saturday, March 9: Muskingum (Ohio), 9 a.m. ET – Live Stats 

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (2-0 overall) opened its 2024 season with a doubleheader sweep of Wisconsin-Superior – 3-2 in 11 innings and 9-1 – on Monday (Feb. 26) at Haugen Field at Becker Park.

The Johnnies batted .300 (21-for-70) on the day with 10 extra-base hits (eight doubles and two home runs) and a .406 (13-for-32) average with runners on base. The pitching staff, meanwhile, held Superior to a .180 average (11-for-61) and posted 28 strikeouts in 18 innings. The Yellowjackets batted only 3-for-34 (.088) with runners on base and 1-for-19 (.053) with runners in scoring position in the two games.

Senior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) and senior right fielder Rodney Erickson (Woodbury, Minn.) led SJU's bats with 4-for-8 performances. Becker totaled three doubles and three RBI, while Erickson hit a solo homer and crossed the plate three times. 

Game 1
Junior catcher Blake Mellgren (Northfield, Minn.), who made his first collegiate start behind the plate, gave SJU a 2-0 lead in the second inning when he launched a 0-2 pitch over the left-center fence for his first home run. 

Superior chipped away to tie the game with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings off senior Wyatt Rudolf (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen). A leadoff single came around to score on a one-out double from Isaac Fugere in the sixth and a leadoff hit-batsmen – on a 0-2 pitch – moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single from Trey Sybrant in the seventh.

Senior first baseman Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) singled with two outs in the bottom of the 11th and his pinch runner, junior Ryan Janzen (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) scored the game-winning run from first when junior shortstop Jackson Peter (Elrosa, Minn./Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa) smoked a 1-0 pitch off the left-center fence for the walk-off double. 

Senior Jeremy Klick (Maple Grove, Minn.) made his first appearance as a Johnnie and earned the win in relief. The former Tommie recorded all six outs via strikeout and allowed one hit with a walk in two scoreless innings.

Senior Kody Dalen (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen) made the start and allowed one hit with eight strikeouts in the no-decision. Junior Kade Bowar (Burnsville, Minn.) struck out two and gave up one hit in eighth and ninth innings.

Becker, Erickson, Mellgren and Peter collected two hits apiece.

Game 2
The Johnnies' offense started a bit earlier in the nightcap as the home team jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the first four innings. Becker stroked a two-run double into the right-center gap in the first inning and started SJU's four-run third inning with another RBI double. He scored on the ensuing RBI single from senior center fielder Jordan Amundson (Eden Prairie, Minn.). A single from senior left fielder Jack Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.) and a walk from Best loaded the bases before Peter brought in another run with a base-on-balls. Mellgren made it 6-0 with a sacrifice-lineout to right field. Erickson led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo home run, the seventh of his career.

UWS' Nick Fredrikson started the sixth inning with a triple and scored on an RBI groundout for the visitors' lone run of the game.

Freshman third baseman Tanner Hoemann (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) walked to start the bottom half of the sixth and his pinch runner, classmate Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge), scored from first on Erickson's RBI double. Sophomore infielder Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) ended the game's scoring when he brought in Erickson with a double down the right-field line.

Junior Connor Hartley (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Rosemount) made his second collegiate start and earned the win, allowing three hits with six strikeouts over four scoreless innings.

Junior Will Fazio (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake) surrendered the lone run in two innings of relief, while senior Griffin Larson (Edina, Minn.) pitched the scoreless seventh.

Amundson, Becker, Erickson and senior second baseman Owen Dauk (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) registered two hits each in game two.

STILL STREAKING: Becker has now reached base safely in each of his last 45 games going back to the 2022 season. He is currently tied with Aaron Pfaff '15 for seventh in program history with 29 doubles, one behind Derek Schiebel '17 in sixth and 12 from the record of 41 held by Matt Butorac '11. Becker also needs five RBI to tie Schiebel for 10th (91).

STRONG STARTS: Dalen and Hartley provided quality starts, and then some, in Monday's season-opening doubleheader. The duo combined to allow four hits – a .154 batting average – with 14 strikeouts and two walks in eight innings. Despite the no-decision, Dalen is 12-3 with a 3.68 ERA, .272 opponent batting average and 138 strikeouts in 129.2 career innings.

THE OPPONENTS
-Otterbein (Ohio): The Cardinals are 2-1 and play No. 11 Misericordia on Saturday (March 2) before Sunday's meeting with the Johnnies...Otterbein tied for fourth in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) with an 11-7 record (27-13 overall) but missed the conference tournament via tie-breaker last spring…the Johnnies are 1-2 all-time against Otterbein, all in Ft. Myers…SJU lost both games of a doubleheader in 2015 and earned a 6-0 win in 2019.

-Heidelberg (Ohio): Heidelberg is 2-1 and plays a pair of games Saturday (March 2) and a game on Sunday (March 3) before facing the Johnnies on Monday (March 4)...the Student Princes finished seventh in the OAC last season with a 7-11 record and finished 19-21 overall…the series is split at 1-1 all-time…SJU won a narrow 4-3 game in 2007 and dropped a 12-9 decision in 13 innings in 2022.

-Misericordia (Pa.): Misericordia is 2-2 and ranked No. 14 in the latest D3baseball.com poll...the Cougars play a trio of OAC members (Otterbein, Baldwin Wallace and Heidelberg) this weekend before Tuesday's game against the Johnnies...Misericordia finished second in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom with an 18-6 record and finished second in the conference tournament last spring...the Cougars earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and won the regional title before upsetting Marietta (Ohio) in the Super Regionals...Misericordia went 1-2 at the NCAA Division lll World Series and finished with a 40-15 record…the Cougars won the first and only meeting against SJU, 4-3 in 11 innings, last season.

-Marietta (Ohio): The Pioneers are ranked No. 20 and visit Berry (Ga.) on Saturday (March 2) before heading to Florida to play Wabash on Monday (March 4) and Saint John's on Tuesday (March 5)...Marietta finished 14-4 in the OAC last season and lost in the tournament championship...the team then hosted and went 3-0 to win the regional round before falling to Misericordia at home in the Super Regionals to post a 37-13 record overall…the Johnnies won the first and only meeting against the Pioneers with a 20-8 score in 2022.

-Hiram (Ohio): The Terriers play five games in four days before meeting up with the Johnnies in Ft. Myers on Thursday (March 7)...Hiram finished last in the North Coast Athletic Conference with a 2-14 record and 15-25 overall in 2023…the Johnnies are 2-1 all-time against Hiram after splitting a doubleheader in 2022 and posting an 8-7 victory last year.

-Baruch (N.Y.): The Bearcats open their season in New York on Saturday (March 2) and head to Florida to play a doubleheader against Defiance (Ohio) on Wednesday (March 6)…Baruch finished runner-up in the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNY) with a 9-3 record and fell to Lehman (N.Y.) in the conference tournament, ending the season with an 11-14 record…next Friday's doubleheader will be the first between SJU and Baruch on the baseball diamond.

-Muskingum (Ohio): The Fighting Muskies are 2-0 this season and play three games at Pfeiffer (N.C.) March 2-4 before making their way to Florida for three games in three days before facing the Johnnies...Muskingum finished eighth in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 6-12 record (22-18 overall) last spring…SJU registered a 6-3 win over Muskingum in the first and only meeting two years ago. 

LAST YEAR'S TRIP: Saint John's went 3-4 during its spring-break trip in Florida last season. The Johnnies started their trip with a narrow 7-6 loss to then-No. 5 Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) and a 4-3 loss in 11 innings to Misericordia, which received votes in the following week's D3baseball.com national poll. SJU then strung together three-straight wins over Lebanon Valley (Pa.; W, 5-3); Pittsburgh-Bradford (Pa.; W, 11-6); and Hiram (W, 8-7). The Johnnies finished the trip with a 16-6 loss to Wabash (Ind.) and a 9-0 defeat to Augustana (Ill.), who also received votes in the following week's D3baseball.com poll.

The Johnnies did well in positional hitting during the trip, batting .314 (22-for-70) with runners in scoring position, .769 (10-for-13) with a runner on third base with less than two outs and .500 (5-for-10) with the bases loaded. SJU also batted .282 (24-for-85) and recorded 20 of its 35 RBI with two outs. The pitching staff only allowed eight extra-base hits during the seven-game stretch and recorded 50 strikeouts in 62.1 innings. On the flip side, SJU hit for just a .241 average overall while allowing a .313 average over the seven-game stretch. The Johnnies also struck out 51 times in 241 at bats (21.2 percent). On the mound, SJU issued 62 free passes (51 walks and 11 hit batters) in 62.1 innings en route to a 6.64 ERA.