Saint John's visits Concordia for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday, April 25, in Moorhead. – Live Stats (Game 1) | Live Stats (Game 2) | Live Video (Both Games)

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (19-10, 8-4 MIAC) closed its third-straight MIAC doubleheader by 10-running the opposition for a split with Saint Mary's on Saturday (April 20) in Collegeville. SMU handed the Johnnies a 5-2 defeat in game one, but the home team responded with five home runs, including a walk-off grand slam from senior second baseman Owen Dauk (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) to invoke the 10-run rule in the eighth inning, for a 13-3 victory in the nightcap.

The grand slam was the Johnnies' third in the last seven games and Dauk's second homer of the contest. He ended the day 3-for-6 with the two homers, seven RBI and three runs scored.

SJU recorded 16 strikeouts in 15 innings and held the Cardinals to 1-for-18 with two outs at the plate on the day.

Game 1 (Saint Mary's 5, at Saint John's 2)
The strike zone shrunk for senior Jeremy Klick (Maple Grove, Minn.) in the third inning as a pair of walks that looked to be strikeouts looking reached and eventually led to two runs for SMU.

Riley Bauman hit the first pitch of the fourth inning over the fence in right-center and a squeeze bunt following a triple gave the visitors a 4-0 lead. 

Senior left fielder Jack Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.) put SJU on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the bottom half of the fourth inning and junior first baseman Jackson Peter (Elrosa, Minn./Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa) scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of senior right fielder Rodney Erickson (St. Paul, Minn./Woodbury) in the fifth to cut the Johnnies' deficit to 4-2.

Cam Miller doubled to start the sixth inning, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch to add some insurance for Saint Mary's and prove to be the game's final run.

Klick made his first start of the season and took the loss (1-2 record), allowing four runs on six hits in four innings of work. He struck out three and issued four free passes (two walks and two hit batsmen). 

Senior Quinn Krueger (Woodbury, Minn.) pitched the final three innings in relief and gave up the final run on one hit with two strikeouts.

The Cardinals' bottom three batters in the lineup combined to go 5-for-7 with two RBI and four runs scored.

Game 2 (at Saint John's 13, Saint Mary's 3; 8 inn.)
Senior designated hitter Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) gave SJU its first lead of the day with a solo home run, his second of the season, in the second inning. The Johnnies tacked on three more runs in the third inning thanks to a two-run blast from senior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) – his 11th of the season and 20th of his career – and back-to-back singles from senior center fielder Jordan Amundson (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Schleper. The RBI single from Schleper extended his hit streak to 12 games. Becker led the Johnnies with a 4-for-7 performance on the afternoon.

Bauman put Saint Mary's on the scoreboard with another leadoff homer, this time in the sixth inning, and another run cut the Johnnies' lead to 4-2. An unearned run in the seventh inning made it a one-run ballgame. That is, until the Johnnies ended the game with nine-straight runs.

Dauk launched his first home run of the game, a three-run shot with one out in the seventh and Amundson answered two batters later with a solo homer, his second of the season and 12th of his career, to give SJU an 8-3 cushion.

The Johnnies scored their ninth run on a passed ball before loading the bases for Dauk's grand slam. The long ball came on the first pitch of the at-bat and served as Dauk's fourth homer of the season and 15th of his career.

Junior Connor Hartley (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Rosemount) improved to 5-2 this spring with the win, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits. He struck out nine and walked two.

Junior Will Fazio (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake) pitched a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts in relief.

CLIMBING THE HOMER CHARTS: Becker is two home runs from the SJU single-season record of 13 set by former teammate Ethan Roe '22 in 2021 and is five from the career record of 25 also owned by Roe.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Dauk was named the MIAC Baseball Player of the Week earlier today (April 22) for his performance in the Johnnies' six games last week. He batted .550 (11-for-20) with a 1.575 OPS (.950 slugging percentage and .625 on-base percentage), two home runs, two doubles, 11 RBI, nine runs scored and four stolen bases (4-for-4) from the No. 2 spot in the lineup. Dauk posted a .692 average (9-for-13) with runners on base, including .750 (6-for-8) with runners in scoring position. He currently leads the team or is tied for the team lead in batting (.366), on-base percentage (.468), hits (37), triples (3), runs scored (33) and stolen bases (12), and is second in home runs (4), RBI (25) and slugging percentage (.614).

NEW MEMBER OF THE 100-HIT CLUB: Amundson became the 39th Johnnie in program history to record 100 career hits with a single in the third inning of game two. He recorded his 100th collegiate hit, thanks to the five he collected as a St. Thomas student-athlete from 2020-21, last Saturday (April 13) against Carleton. He is currently tied for fifth in program history in triples (8) and is sixth in walks (54).

STAT COMPARISONS (MIAC ranking in conference play)
Batting Average
5. SJU, .292 (.298 overall)
6. CC, .288 (.285 overall)

Slugging Percentage
2. SJU, .505 (.486 overall)
8. CC, .396 (.377 overall)

On-Base Percentage
5. CC, .390 (.381 overall)
7. SJU, .387 (.378 overall)

ERA
4. CC, 4.61 (6.25 overall)
6. SJU, 5.01 (4.16 overall)

Opponent Batting Average
3. SJU, .259 (.229 overall)
4. CC, .264 (.299 overall)

Fielding Percentage
2. CC, .974 (.964 overall)
7. SJU, .958 (.954 overall)

A LOOK AT THE COBBERS: Concordia (10-18, 7-7 MIAC) dropped a pair of games, 11-6 and 12-11, at Gustavus Adolphus this past Saturday (April 20) in St. Peter. The Gusties jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning of game one and scored the final five runs after Concordia tied it at 6-6 in the top of the fourth inning. CC built an 11-4 lead after six innings in game two, but GAC tallied six in the seventh and scored two more in the eighth for the 12-11 victory and sweep. Junior first baseman Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe leads the team in batting (.325), slugging percentage (.470) and RBI, while junior outfielder David Dorsey touts a team-best 30 hits and 21 runs scored. Junior pitcher Jacoby Nold is 2-3 with a 4.23 ERA and 21 strikeouts in a team-best 27.2 innings.

LAST SPRING: The Johnnies went 1-2, all in Collegeville, against the Cobbers last spring.

Concordia 16, at Saint John's 1; at Saint John's 18, Concordia 2 (7 inn.) – April 18, 2023
Saint John's and Concordia played to a high-scoring split last April 18 (2023). The Johnnies committed seven errors and Concordia recorded 16 hits, including 15 singles, in a 16-1 loss in game one. SJU bounced back, however, and cracked 20 hits with seven error-free innings in an 18-2 route in the nightcap.

Becker and Schleper earned their 100th career hits on the afternoon. SJU was the "visiting" team in the doubleheader, which was scheduled to be the MIAC opener for both teams on April 1 in Moorhead. 

SJU batted .377 (23-for-61) on the day, including .439 (18-for-41) with runners on base, .435 (10-for-23) with runners in scoring position and .381 (8-for-21) with two outs.

Game 1
Becker became the 35th Johnnie in program history to reach 100 career hits when he belted a solo home run, his second of the season and eighth of his career, with one out in the top of the first inning.

The Cobbers, however, scored 16 unanswered runs to take game one. Just two of CC's first 12 runs scored were earned, while SJU tallied only three hits – all singles – and did not have a baserunner reach second base.

Dalen took the loss, allowing nine runs (one earned) on five hits in one inning of work.

Game 2
SJU's offense woke up in game two and scored a run or more in each of the first five innings. Six Johnnies totaled two hits or more in the victory, led by Schleper's 4-for-4 performance with four RBI and three runs scored. He followed Becker and became the 36th Johnnie to reach the 100-hit plateau with his third-consecutive single in the top of the fourth inning.

Dauk, Erickson and senior first baseman Andrew Mahlke (Victoria, Minn./Chanhassen) collected three hits apiece, while Becker and Max Nyrop '23 each added two. Amundson went 1-for-2 with three walks and four runs scored. 

Senior Wyatt Rudolf (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen) improved to 3-1 with the commanding win. He struck out six and allowed four hits over six innings. 

The Cobbers erased the shutout by scoring a pair of runs on two groundball singles with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Concordia 6, at Saint John's 4 – May 11, 2023 (MIAC Tournament)
Second-seeded Saint John's baseball suffered a 6-4 loss to third-seeded Concordia to cap the first day of the 2023 MIAC Tournament in Collegeville.

SJU recorded five extra-base hits – four doubles and a home run – but left 10 men on base and batted 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, as well as 3-for-19 with runners on base.

Concordia took advantage of an infield single and scored the game's first run on a two-out, RBI single from Matt Gruber in the top of the first inning.

Dauk walked to start the third inning, moved to third base when Nyrop roped a double off the left-field fence and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Amundson in the next at-bat. The run scored enabled Dauk to break SJU's season record with 45.

Schleper gave the Johnnies their first and only lead of the game with a leadoff homer, his third of the season and 11th of his career, in the fourth inning.

The lead was short-lived, however, as CC plated two runs in the fifth inning. Caiden Kjelstrom singled with one out and scored on Andy Gravdahl's triple on a 0-2 count. Gravdahl came in on an RBI groundout from Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe to make it 3-2. 

Nyrop cracked his second double of the game with two outs in the bottom half of the fifth and scored, unearned, on a throwing error by the Cobbers. The errors were contagious, however, as SJU committed two in the top of the sixth and CC tallied two more runs, both unearned with two outs.

SJU looked to have something going offensively in the bottom of the sixth but inevitably left empty-handed. Best walked to start it off and moved to second on a single from catcher Matt Herold '23. Erickson flipped a single to right field, but Herold thought the first baseman may make the catch and started to go back to first base. The handful of steps back to the bag proved to be critical as the Cobbers' right fielder gained the force-out at second. Dauk then followed with a lineout-double-play to first base to end the inning.

Concordia extended its lead to 6-3 with a safety-squeeze bunt in the top of the seventh and Herold ended the game's scoring by plating Schleper, who smacked a leadoff double, on an RBI groundout in the eighth. 

Hartley took the loss, allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits in six innings of relief. He struck out two and walked one.

Rudolf made the start and gave up the first run on five hits in three innings. He struck out two and walked four.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU leads the series with a 40-36 record against Concordia since 1987, including a 17-10 mark in Moorhead. The Johnnies have won 10 of the last 12 meetings overall and each of the last five on the Cobbers' home diamond.