Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's baseball dropped its postseason opener to Bethel by a 6-3 score on Thursday night, May 8, at Haugen Field at Becker Park. 

The Johnnies (25-15 overall) face St. Olaf (22-15 overall), which fell to top-seeded and No. 17 Gustavus Adolphus (34-7 overall) by a 6-5 score in 10 innings, in an elimination game at noon Friday, May 9, in Collegeville. The Gusties take on the Royals (29-11 overall) in the semifinal at 3 p.m. Friday.

SJU had runners on second and third with nobody out in the sixth inning and did not score, and left the bases loaded with one out in the eighth. The visitors on the scoreboard committed three errors in the field and were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, 1-for-9 with two outs and 4-for-14 with runners on base. BU, meanwhile, was 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position on the evening.

The Royals gained a quick 1-0 lead thanks to back-to-back doubles in the first inning and made it 2-0 on an RBI single in the third. 

The margin grew to 4-0 with a pair of unearned runs in the fourth inning before sophomore designated hitter Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) blasted a two-run bomb to left field, his seventh home run of the season, in the top of the fifth inning. 

BU answered, however, with two runs (one earned) in the bottom half of the frame for a 6-2 advantage.

Sophomore second baseman Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) launched his first homer as a Johnnie on the first pitch of the sixth inning, but that was the closest SJU would get.

Senior Connor Hartley (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Rosemount) allowed the six runs, though only three were earned, on 12 hits in seven innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Sophomore Hunter Hoen (Belle Plaine, Minn.) recorded an out in the eighth inning before leaving the game due to injury. Junior Jack Dobesh (Edina, Minn.) replaced him and recorded a pair of strikeouts.

Junior left fielder Owen Amrhein (Waconia, Minn.) went 2-for-2 with a double and a pair of walks.