Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's baseball opened the MIAC schedule with a shutout sweep of Macalester, 3-0 and 2-0, on Friday, March 28, at Haugen Field at Becker Park.

Three Johnnie (12-7, 2-0 MIAC) pitchers accounted for the 16 shutout innings and allowed a combined seven singles – a .135 batting average (7-for-52) – with 11 strikeouts and only one free pass (a walk). The Scots (4-10, 0-2 MIAC) took the field Friday batting .297 through the season's first 12 games but were 0-for-13 with runners on base (0-for-6 in scoring position) and 1-for-16 (.063) with two outs against SJU.

Game 1 – at Saint John's 3, Macalester 0
Senior Connor Hartley (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Rosemount) recorded the 69-pitch gem (47 strikes) for the complete-game shutout in a snappy one hour and 17 minutes. He allowed three hits and struck out three.

Senior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) singled with one out in the bottom of the first inning and came around to score on back-to-back, two-out singles from junior right fielder Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) and sophomore designated hitter Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) to give the home team an early 1-0 lead.

Sophomore center fielder Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge), like Becker an inning earlier, singled with one out to manufacture another run in the second. He moved from first to third on a single from senior catcher Blake Mellgren (Northfield, Minn.) and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior shortstop Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes).

Senior second baseman Ryan Janzen (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) tripled to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning and scored on a sac fly from Schwellenbach in the next at-bat for end the game's scoring. Jansen led SJU with two hits in the game one.

The Scots' Cam Scholl, the reigning MIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week, entered the game with 17 scoreless innings (one unearned run) so far this season and took the loss, allowing all three runs on eight hits.



Game 2 – at Saint John's 2, Macalester 0
Senior lefty Will Fazio (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake) matched Hartley's seven scoreless innings but combined with sophomore Carter Theisen (Rosemount, Minn.) for the shutout as a nine-inning game. Fazio surrendered three hits and struck out six, while Theisen gave up one hit and struck out three for his first collegiate save. Fazio is now 3-0 with a 1.35 ERA, .160 opponent batting average and 31 strikeouts in 26.2 innings so far this spring.

Hemr gave the Johnnies a 1-0 lead when he singled with one out in the fourth inning, stole second base and scored on a two-out single from sophomore left fielder Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area).

Marquardt battled back from a 0-2 count and coaxed a walk to start the bottom of the eighth inning, advanced to second base on a sac bunt from Becker and scored on an RBI single from senior first baseman Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) to give SJU some insurance.
Helfmann and Matchey led SJU with two hits apiece in the nightcap.

SJU's pitching staff had quite the week on the mound. Including Wednesday's non-conference sweep at Northwestern, five Johnnie pitchers combined for a 0.60 ERA (two earned runs) and a .133 opponent batting average with 21 strikeouts in 30 innings.

The Johnnies travel to face Carleton (6-6, 0-2 MIAC) for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday, April 1, in Northfield.