Saint John's baseball wraps up its road stretch with a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader at Saint Mary's this Wednesday, April 23, in Winona. – Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (18-12, 8-4 MIAC) dropped a pair of games, 4-0 and 5-4, at Bethel last Saturday (April 19). The Johnnies mustered four hits and went down on strikes nine times to Bethel's Max Sutter in game one and surrendered a 4-1 lead in the nightcap.

BU held the Johnnies to a .190 (11-for-58) batting average and recorded 19 strikeouts on the day. SJU batted 5-for-23 (.217) with runners on base, including 2-for-14 (.143) with runners in scoring position.

Game 1 - at Bethel 4, Saint John's 0
SJU had two runners on base in each of the first two innings before Bethel broke through for a single run with three doubles in the bottom of the second.

Oran Hinkle hit his seventh home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the third and a leadoff walk eventually scored with two outs in the fifth. Back-to-back doubles to start the bottom of the sixth inning plated BU's fourth run.

Sophomore Carter Theisen (Rosemount, Minn.) took the loss (4-2 record) after he allowed all four runs on seven hits – five of which were for extra bases (four doubles and a homer) – with four strikeouts in the seven-inning, complete-game effort.

Game 2 - at Bethel 5, Saint John's 4
Hayden Sperbeck gave the Royals an early 1-0 lead with a solo shot – the lone hit allowed by sophomore starter Hunter Hoen (Belle Plaine, Minn.) in four innings – in the bottom of the first.

Senior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) and senior first baseman Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) walked to start the fourth inning and trotted home when Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) blasted a three-run homer with two outs to give SJU its first lead of the day. The long ball was Hemr's fourth of the season.

Another two-out RBI, this time a single from sophomore left fielder Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area), made it 4-1 in the top of the fifth inning. BU left the bases loaded in the bottom half of the fifth.

Marquardt and Becker singled to start the seventh inning but they did not budge from second and first, respectively.

The Royals cut their deficit to 4-3 with a pair of runs off senior Will Fazio (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake) in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior Jack Dobesh (Edina, Minn.) relieved Fazio with one out and runners at second and first, and induced a lineout to Matchey in left. Matchey then doubled up the runner at second base to end the inning.

Freshman Drew Lange (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) took the loss (2-1 record) after he allowed two runs, one earned due to his own throwing error, in the seventh inning.

Junior shortstop Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) led SJU's bats with a 3-for-5 performance.

LAST 10: Becker is batting .500 (14-for-28) - .615 (8-for-13) with runners on base and .571 (4-for-7) with runners in scoring position – with a 1.861 OPS, eight extra-base hits (five homers, two doubles and a triple), 16 runs scored, 11 RBI and 14 walks in 10 games play so far in the month of April.

A LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Saint Mary's (18-13, 9-5 MIAC) swept Carleton, 4-1 and 7-2, this past Saturday (April 19) in Winona. Junior infielder Josh Costello leads the team with a .355 batting average (33-for-93), while senior outfielder Riley Bauman leads the team in hits (38), extra-base hits (12) and stole bases (12-for-15), and is tied with senior infielder Brinton Anderson for the team lead in RBI (20). Freshman Drew Rothenberger leads SJU's pitching staff in starts (8) and innings (34.1), and is 2-2 with a 6.03 ERA and .244 opponent batting average. Junior Eric Stomberg (2-2, 3.71 ERA, .262) and graduate student Addison Hochevar (2-3, 4.76, .286) are next with seven starts apiece.

LAST SPRING: The Johnnies and Cardinals split last season's series in Collegeville before SMU came out on top in the MIAC Tournament.

SJU closed its third-straight MIAC doubleheader by 10-running the opposition for a split last April 20 (2024) at Haugen Field at Becker Park.

Saint Mary's 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 second baseman Owen Dauk '23 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 previous 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.

Center fielder Jordan Amundson '24 became the 39th Johnnie in program history to record 100 career hits with a single in the third inning of game two.

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 Jeremy Klick 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. 

Left fielder Jack Schleper '24 put SJU on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the bottom half of the fourth inning and first baseman Jackson Peter scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of right fielder Rodney Erickson '24 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). 

Quinn Krueger '24 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.
Best 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 Becker – his 11th of the season and 20th of his career – and back-to-back singles from Amundson (his 100th hit as a Johnnie) 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.

Senior Connor Hartley (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Rosemount) improved to 5-2 with the win, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits. He struck out nine and walked two. Fazio pitched a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts in relief.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 58-45 against Saint Mary's on the baseball diamond since 1974, including a 24-18 record in Winona.