Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

MOORHEAD, Minn. – Saint John's baseball settled for its third-straight MIAC split on Tuesday, April 23, at Concordia.

The Johnnies (20-11, 9-5 MIAC) tallied a pair of five-run innings in a 14-7 win in game one to clinch their 10th-straight season with 20 wins or more. The visitors batted 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position and 5-for-11 with two outs in the victory.

SJU hit four home runs in game two but gave up a six-run third inning in a 9-6 loss in the nightcap. The specialty stats slowed to a 2-for-10 showing with runners in scoring position and 1-for-9 with two outs. 

Sophomore shortstop Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) led SJU with a 5-for-7 performance at the plate with three doubles, four runs scored and two RBI. Five different Johnnies homered in the twin bill.

Game 1 (Saint John's 14, at Concordia 7)
Senior left fielder Jack Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.) started the scoring for SJU with a solo home run, his third of the season and 14th of his career, with one out in the top of the second inning.

A hit batsmen and three walks tied the game at 1-1 for Concordia (11-19, 8-8 MIAC) in the bottom of the second inning before SJU exploded for five runs in the top of the third. Junior catcher Blake Mellgren (Northfield, Minn.) walked to start the frame and scored on an RBI double from Marquardt. Senior right fielder Rodney Erickson (St. Paul, Minn./Woodbury) reached on an error, which moved Marquardt to third. Senior second baseman Owen Dauk (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) walked and Marquardt scored on the wild ball four. Both baserunners advanced a base on a failed pickoff attempt before senior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) roped a two-run double down the left-field line for a 5-1 lead. Becker gained third base on a wild pitch and scored the inning's fifth run on a sacrifice fly from Schleper.

A leadoff double and two walks in the bottom of the fifth inning ended senior Griffin Larson's (Edina, Minn.) day before David Dorsey hit a 1-0 pitch from senior Quinn Krueger (Woodbury, Minn.) over the right-field fence for a grand slam to cut CC's deficit to 6-5. Dorsey hit three home runs in the doubleheader.

The Johnnies, however, answered with six runs in the top of the sixth. Junior first baseman Jackson Peter (Elrosa, Minn./Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa) walked to start the inning and advanced to third on a double from Mellgren. Marquardt stroked an RBI single to right field on his second pitch from the new Cobber reliever and Mellgren scored when the catcher dropped the ball at the plate on a fielder's choice off the bat of Erickson. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Dauk walked to load the bases before Becker followed with a sac fly. Schleper and senior designated hitter Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) made it 11-5 with back-to-back RBI singles with two outs.

Two Concordia hits that combined to travel 10 feet came around to score on a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning against senior Kody Dalen (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen), but the Johnnies responded once again with three more runs in the top of the seventh. Marquardt doubled with one out and Erickson followed with a single. Dauk plated Marquardt on an RBI groundout before Becker and Schleper tallied RBI singles.

Larson moved his season record to 5-0 with the win, allowing four runs on two hits in 4.1 innings. He struck out three and walked five.

Marquardt finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored, two doubles and two RBI, while Becker (2-for-4) and Schleper (3-for-4) drove in four runs each.

Game 2 (at Concordia 9, Saint John's 6)
Like Schleper in game one, Dauk gave SJU a quick 1-0 lead with a solo shot, his fifth home run of the season and 16th of his career, in the first inning. The lead was short-lived, however, as Dorsey hit his second home run of the day – this time a two-run blast – in the bottom half of the inning.

Senior designated hitter Andrew Mahlke (Victoria, Minn./Chanhassen) tied the game for SJU with his first collegiate home run in the top of the second inning.

Marquardt started the third with his third double of the day but did not score, which served as an omen for the bottom half of the inning when CC scored five runs without an out and added another for an 8-2 lead.

The Johnnies started the fourth inning in a similar fashion to the third, in that Schleper led off with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Peter then smacked a two-run homer, his fourth of the season and seventh as a Johnnie, with one out to cut the deficit to 8-4.

Erickson led off the fifth inning with a solo blast down the left-field line for his third homer of the season and ninth of his career, and Becker cut CC's lead to 8-6 with a two-out, RBI single in the seventh.

Mahlke doubled with one out in the eighth inning but the Johnnies struck out in the next two at-bats. Dorsey, meanwhile, gave the Cobbers some insurance with a two-out, solo homer to end the game's scoring in the bottom half.

Senior Wyatt Rudolf (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen) took the loss, allowing eight runs on seven hits in two innings. 

Junior Will Fazio (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake) pitched a dazzling six innings in relief. The lone blemish was the solo homer with two outs in the eighth. He struck out five and surrendered four hits.

Erickson (4-for-10) and Schleper (4-for-8) totaled four hits apiece. Erickson scored four runs, while Schleper posted four RBI and extended his hit streak to 14 games.

Becker led the team with five RBI and now has 48 on the year, four from the SJU single-season record of 52 set by Ryan Roder '97 in 1997. He is also two home runs from the SJU record of 13 set by former teammate Ethan Roe '22 in 2021.

The Johnnies return home to host St. Scholastica for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, April 27, at Haugen Field at Becker Park.