Box Score
DAVENPORT, Fla. – Saint John's baseball started the second day of its spring break trip with a 6-2 win over Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Sunday morning, March 15.
Freshman
Max Edwards (Rockford, Minn.) made his first collegiate start and allowed one run on five hits with 10 strikeouts (to two walks) in seven innings.
Senior third baseman
Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) broke the scoreless stalemate with a solo home run, his first of the season and fifth of his career, with one out in the fourth inning.
Junior designated hitter
Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) doubled to start the bottom of the fifth inning. He advanced to third on a groundout by junior center fielder
Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) and scored on an RBI single from freshman shortstop
Will Koeppen (Minnetonka, Minn.) with two outs.
The Pointers (2-3 overall) finally got to Edwards in the top of the seventh inning with a double and single, back-to-back, with one out to cut their deficit to 2-1.
The Johnnies (5-3 overall) responded, however, with two runs for a 4-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning. Sophomore left fielder
Grayson Fuchs (Paynesville, Minn.) walked to start the inning and his pinch runner – senior
Owen Amrhein (Waconia, Minn.) – advanced to second on a single from Schwellenbach. Koeppen moved up both runners with a sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch brought in Amrhein and junior second baseman
Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) made it 4-1 with an RBI single.
Senior
Noah Jensen (St. Cloud, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) gave up a run in the top of the eighth inning, but classmate
Jack Dobesh (Edina, Minn.) entered with runners on the corners and nobody out and shut the door. UWSP's sac-bunt attempt turned into an out at the plate, followed by two-straight Dobesh strikeouts to avoid the threat.
SJU rode the momentum to two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Senior right fielder
Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) walked to start the frame and scored when junior first baseman
Justin Brooks (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) singled and the UWSP third baseman made a throwing error. Helfmann followed with a single before Amrhein stroked an RBI single up the middle.
Dobesh pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his third collegiate save.
The Johnnies return to Davenport for a 3:30 p.m. ET doubleheader against Worcester State (Mass.) on Monday, March 16.