Box Score

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Saint John's baseball closed its nine-game, spring-break trip with a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to Union (N.Y.) on Saturday, March 22.

Down 4-2 in the top of the ninth inning, senior first baseman Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) gave the Johnnies (8-7 overall) a one-run lead with a three-run homer.

Caleb Miller started the bottom of the ninth inning with a single and stole second for Union (9-4 overall), but freshman Dylan Marciulionis (Esko, Minn.) battled back with a pair of strikeouts. The Garnet Chargers were down to their final strike – a 0-2 count – when Dylan Swarts tied the game with a triple. Noah DiCaprio provided the heroics for Union when he hits a groundball through the right side of the infield for his third hit of the game to plate in the ensuing at-bat.

The game was the first of five in Florida for Union, which last played on March 16 and gained a 2-0 lead off sophomore starter Brady Drkula (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) in the second inning. The Garnet Chargers produced a run with an RBI groundout off junior Vinny Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.) in the fourth inning before senior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) made it a one-run game with a two-run double in the top of the fifth. The double, the 45th of Becker's career, enabled him to break his tie with former teammate Jack Schleper '24 for the program record.

SJU left the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning before Union made it 4-2 in the bottom half of the frame. 

Marquardt walked and Becker was hit by a pitch with one out prior to Best's three-run blast in the ninth.

Marciulionis took the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings of relief. Best and senior second baseman Ryan Janzen (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) led SJU with two hits apiece.

SJU travels to face Northwestern for a 4 p.m. non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday, March 26, in Roseville.