Saint John's baseball visits Moorhead today (Monday, March 30) for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader against Concordia at Bucky Burgau Field. – Live Stats (Game 1) | Live Stats (Game 2) | Live Video

MONDAY INSTEAD OF WEDNESDAY: Today's doubleheader was originally scheduled for Wednesday (April 1) but was moved up to Monday due to the weather forecast.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (9-8, 0-2 MIAC) lacked the key hit for the second-straight doubleheader in a pair of losses, 3-2 and 4-1, to Saint Mary's on Sunday, March 29, at Haugen Field at Becker Park.

The Johnnies out-hit the Cardinals 15-14 but batted .208 (5-for-24) with runners on base, including a 3-for-18 (.167) performance with runners in scoring position, and 4-for-19 (.211) with two outs in the doubleheader. SJU batted .196 (10-51) on the day, including a 3-for-17 (.176) showing with runners in scoring position, in a pair of one-run defeats (3-2, 6-5) on Tuesday (March 24) at Bethany Lutheran.

Game 1 – Saint Mary's 3, at Saint John's 2
SJU gained a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman shortstop Will Koeppen (Minnetonka, Minn.) coaxed a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from junior second baseman Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) and scored on an RBI single off the bat of junior first baseman Justin Brooks (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park).

SMU followed a similar formula to tie the game in the top of third when a leadoff walk moved to third on a pair of groundouts and scored on a two-out single from Alex Hanneman. 

The Cardinals gained their first lead of the game with a single run in the top of the sixth inning, but the Johnnies answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Junior catcher Mason McCurdy (Lake Elmo, Minn./Stillwater Area) stroked a leadoff single and advanced to second on a sac bunt from senior right fielder Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial). McCurdy made it to third on a groundout and scored the tying run on a two-out single from junior center fielder Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge). 

Saint Mary's loaded the bases in the top of the seventh inning with a hit batsmen, sandwiched by a pair of singles, and scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a wild pitch.

Freshman Max Edwards (Rockford, Minn.) allowed two runs on four hit sin six innings of the no-decision. He struck out six and walked three.

Sophomore Dylan Marciulionis (Esko, Minn.) took the loss, allowing the third run on two hits in 0.1 innings. Senior Jack Dobesh (Edina, Minn.) recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning with the bases loaded.

Brooks and Koeppen went 2-for-3 at the plate to pace SJU in the opener.

Game 2 – Saint Mary's 4, at Saint John's 1
The Johnnies scored first in game two, but the visitors scored four answered runs on a pair of two-run, extra-base hits.

Hemr started his 4-for-4 showing at the plate with a leadoff single in the bottom of the third inning. Senior left fielder Owen Amrhein (Waconia, Minn.) and Schwellenbach followed with bunt singles to load the bases before Koeppen lifted a sac fly to left for the 1-0 lead. Matchey walked to re-load the bases, but Brooks smacked a hard-hit, 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.

SMU's Gavin Schulte hit a two-out, two-run double off the right-center field fence in the top of the fourth and Ryan Csida cracked a two-run homer in the eighth. SJU left the bases loaded in the eighth inning.

Junior Hunter Hoen (Belle Plaine, Minn.) took the loss after surrendering the four runs on eight hits in 7.1 innings. He struck out three and walked three.

Seniors Vinny Schleper (0.2; Shakopee, Minn.) and Noah Jensen (1.0; St. Cloud, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) combined for 1.2 of hitless relief.

STAT COMPARISONS
Batting Average
-SJU, .303
-CC, .250

Slugging Percentage
-SJU, .431
-CC, .338

On-Base Percentage
-SJU, .396
-CC, .362

ERA
-SJU, 3.30
-CC, 5.92

Opponent Batting Average
-SJU, .250
-CC, .278

Fielding Percentage
-CC, .962
-SJU, .950

A LOOK AT THE COBBERS: Concordia (6-9, 1-1 MIAC) split its conference opener yesterday (Sunday, March 29) at Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter. Junior Zach Ehnstrom (two RBI) and sophomore Luke Knudsen posted two hits apiece and sophomore righty Brayden Wolfgram went the distance, allowing an unearned run on six hits with two strikeouts in seven innings for the 4-1 win in game one. The Gusties, however, erased a 4-1 deficit with eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take the nightcap 10-4 for the doubleheader split. Sophomore Mason Henry leads CC in batting (.327) and hits (17), while junior Ben Shumansky touts a team-best 10 RBI and two home runs.

LAST SPRING: SJU extended its win streak to five games and clinched a berth to the four-team MIAC Tournament with a sweep of Concordia-Moorhead, 4-1 and 4-3, last April 29 (2025) in Collegeville. The Johnnies batted .313 (15-for-48) with five extra-base hits and held Concordia to a .197 average and 12 singles (12-for-61). The Cobbers were 3-for-22 (.136) with runners in scoring position on the afternoon.

Game 1 – at Saint John's 4, Concordia 1
CC scored an unearned run in the top of the second inning before SJU plated four unanswered runs for the win.

Senior third baseman Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) walked to start the bottom of the third inning and first baseman Owen Best '25 followed suit two batters later. A bunt single from Matchey loaded the bases before Hemr roped a 3-2 pitch up the middle for an RBI single. Schwellenbach brought in the go-ahead run with a fielder's choice in the next at-bat.

Catcher Blake Mellgren '25 drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fourth inning and SJU scored another run with three-straight walks – the third being Matchey – before Hemr ended the game's scoring with a sacrifice fly.

Connor Hartley '25 pitched the complete game, his fourth of the season, and allowed the unearned run on just two hits in seven innings. He tied a season high with seven strikeouts.

Game 2 – at Saint John's 4, Concordia 3
The Johnnies put together a two-out rally to tally the game's first run in the bottom of the first inning when Best singled through the right side and scored from first when Matchey dropped a triple down the right-field line.

Third baseman Joe Becker '24 made it 2-0 when he blasted his 13th home run of the season to start the bottom of the third inning. 

The Cobbers cut the lead to 2-1 with an unearned run in the fifth inning, but the home team manufactured a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Best started the frame with a double, his 11th of the season, moved to third on a sac bunt from Matchey and scored on another RBI single off the bat of Hemr.

The exchange of runs continued in the seventh inning. CC put together three singles off reliever Kade Bowar '25 to make it 3-2 but the senior ended the threat – with two runners on – with a strikeout looking. Amrhein dropped a Texas-league double down the right-field line, advanced to third on a sac bunt from Mellgren and scored on Marquardt's sac fly.

The visitors tallied an unearned run in the top of the eighth inning and nearly tied the game at 4-4, but Schwellenbach made a sensational diving catch in the left-center gap for the third out.

Will Fazio '25 improved to 6-1 with the win after he allowed an unearned run on five groundball singles in six innings of work. He struck out nine and walked one.

Dobesh struck out three and pitched the final two scoreless innings for his second save of the season.

CC went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base in the nightcap.

Matchey led SJU by going 4-for-6 at the plate with two RBI and Best posted a 3-for-6 performance with two walks and three runs scored.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU leads the series with a 43-37 record against Concordia since 1987, including an 18-11 mark in Moorhead. The Johnnies have won 13 of the last 16 meetings overall and six of the last seven on the Cobbers' home diamond.