MIAC Release

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Saint John's senior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) was named the MIAC Co-Max Molock Player of the Year and four other Johnnies earned All-MIAC honors when the 2025 MIAC Baseball Awards were announced on Tuesday, May 13. 

Senior pitcher Will Fazio (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake), senior pitcher Connor Hartley (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Rosemount), senior second baseman Ryan Janzen (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) and sophomore outfielder/second baseman Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) joined Becker on the All-MIAC team.

Sophomore designated hitter Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) and junior right fielder Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) were named to the MIAC All-Playoff team.

SJU has now had 65 All-MIAC honorees over the past 15 seasons.

The All-MIAC honor is the third for Becker (2023-25) and the second-consecutive for both Fazio and Hartley.

Becker is the fourth Johnnie to be named the MIAC's Player of the Year, joining first baseman Ryan Roder in 1997, catcher/pitcher Kurt Jantscher in 2015 and outfielder Wyatt Ulrich in 2017.

Becker started all 20 conference games at third base and led the MIAC in home runs (9), walks (19) and slugging percentage (.933), was fourth in runs scored (25) and sixth in RBI (21). He tied with Matchey for eighth in batting (.400), as both were 24-for-60 at the plate. Becker batted 14-for-29 (.483) - over half of his hits - with runners on base and .438 (7-for-16) with runners in scoring position. 

Overall, Becker set program records for home runs (15) and runs scored (48), and also led the team in batting (.391), slugging percentage (.859), on-base percentage (.538), home runs (15), extra-base hits (27), RBI (42) and slugging percentage (.741) this spring. 

Becker started 164 of SJU's last 165 games going back to 2021 and ended his Johnnie career as the program's all-time leader in games played (182), at-bats (642), runs scored (174), hits (223), doubles (48), home runs (36), total bases (401), walks (86) and RBI, both in a single season (54 in 2024) and career (178). He also tied with Matt Boys '11 for the SJU's all-time record for triples with 11.

Fazio posted the fourth-best ERA among MIAC pitchers (1.91), collecting four wins (fourth/MIAC) in 28.1 innings pitched through five starts and six appearances. His 26 strikeouts tied for sixth, while his nine caught looking were the third-most in conference play this season. Overall, Fazio posted the best ERA of SJU's starters (2.55), leading the Johnnies with a 6-1 record and 56 strikeouts. He ended his career with a 12-8 record with a 3.74 ERA, .244 opponent batting average, four combined shutouts and 145 strikeouts in 139.2 innings (37 appearances, 20 starts). Among those with 100 innings pitched or more, Fazio is third in program history in strikeouts per nine innings (9.34) and eighth in total strikeouts (145).

Hartley allowed the least hits of any pitcher in MIAC play this season, holding opponents to a .155 average (18-for-116) in six appearances and 32.0 innings pitched (sixth/MIAC). He shared fourth with Fazio with four conference wins (4-2 record) and was sixth among pitchers with more than 30 innings in ERA (2.81). Overall, Hartley led SJU's pitching staff in appearances (12), starts (10), and innings pitched (59.1), and shared first in wins with Fazio (6-5 record). His four complete-game performances rank eighth in NCAA Division III. Hartley ended his career with a 15-11 record, 3.74 ERA, .253 opponent batting average and 115 strikeouts (to 32 walks) in 154 innings (37 appearances, 21 starts). The 15 career wins tie him for eighth-most in program history.

Janzen started 17 conference games at second base before suffering a season-ending arm injury in the second-to-last doubleheader. He led the MIAC in triples (4) and was tied for third in sacrifice bunts (3). He was also second on the team in on-base percentage (.525) and third on the team in batting (.378). Janzen made 33 starts overall and batted .315 (33-for-108) with a .439 on-base percentage, eight stolen bases and 18 runs scored.

In addition to his .400 batting average in conference play, Matchey led SJU by batting .500 (11-for-22) with runners in scoring position and .391 (9-for-23) with two outs. He appeared in 35 games with 27 starts, 18 in left field and eight at second base, and finished second on the team in batting (.366). Matchey drove in 24 runs and scored 20 himself, and ended the season with an eight-game hit streak. He batted .500 (19-for-38)  with runners in scoring position.

Helfmann led the Johnnies with two home runs and five RBI in the team's two MIAC Tournament games. He played 38 games (36 starts at designated hitter) and was second on the team in home runs (8) and slugging percentage (.609), and third in extra-base hits (18) and RBI (31). Helfmann batted .304, including .382 (13-for-34) with two outs, and recorded the Johnnies' longest hit streak of the season at 14 games.

Hemr led SJU with four hits (4-for-7) in the MIAC Tournament. He also hit a home run, scored twice and recorded an assist from right field. He played all 20 conference games and batted .315 with 18 RBI, thanks to a .440 average (11-for-25) with runners in scoring position. Hemr was the lone Johnnie to play all 41 games this season and tied with senior first baseman Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) for the team lead in doubles (11). He also led the team in hits (51), was second in RBI (39) and extra-base hits (19), and third in batting (.352), slugging percentage (.579), home runs (6) and runs scored (28). Hemr tied with Becker for the team's most multiple-RBI games (11) and was second in multiple-hit games (13).

SJU finished third in the MIAC with a 14-6 record (25-16 overall) and made its 15th-straight appearance in the MIAC Tournament (17th overall) this spring. The Johnnies finished second in the MIAC in slugging percentage (.463), third in batting average (.307) and on-base percentage (.392), and fourth in ERA (4.59) and opponent batting average (.261) in conference play.