Saint John's baseball travels to face Hamline for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Sunday, April 12, at CHS Field in St. Paul. – Live Stats | Live Video

BUMPED TO SUNDAY: Sunday's doubleheader was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed and rescheduled for Sunday due to the forecast of rain.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (11-10, 2-4 MIAC) broke into the MIAC's win column with a doubleheader sweep of St. Scholastica, 17-1 and 10-3, yesterday (Thursday, April 9) in Collegeville.

The Johnnies out-hit the Saints by a 24-10 margin and batted .364 (24-for-66) on the day.

Four SJU pitchers, meanwhile, held CSS – which defeated Carleton 42-9 yesterday in Northfield – to a .182 batting average (10-for-55) and posted 16 strikeouts in 16 innings. Only one of the four runs allowed was earned.

Game 1 – at Saint John's 17, St. Scholastica 1
A walk came around to score for CSS following back-to-back, two-out singles in the top of the second inning but the home team answered with four in the bottom half of the frame.

Junior catcher Mason McCurdy (Lake Elmo, Minn./Stillwater Area) led off with a single to left field and senior right fielder Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) coaxed a walk in the next at-bat. Both baserunners advanced on a passed ball before senior left fielder Owen Amrhein (Waconia, Minn.) lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate McCurdy. 

Junior center fielder Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) reached on a rare double that did not go past the pitching mound and moved Hemr to third. Freshman shortstop Will Koeppen (Minnetonka, Minn.) roped a two-run single up the middle for a 3-1 lead and junior second baseman Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) plated the inning's fourth run on a two-out, RBI single.

Senior third baseman Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) started the bottom of the third inning with a double off the right-field fence and moved to third on a single from McCurdy. Hemr ripped an RBI single through the left side of the infield for a 5-1 lead. Both runners advanced on a sac bunt from Amrhein and Schwellenbach walked to load the bases. A balk made it 6-1 and junior first baseman Justin Brooks (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) stroked a two-out single for a 7-1 advantage.

The Johnnies batted around in the fifth inning, scoring six runs on four hits, and tacked on four runs with three hits in the sixth.

Freshman Max Edwards (Rockford, Minn.) improved to 4-0 on the year, allowing the one run on four hits with eight strikeouts in six innings. 

Junior Carter Theisen (Rosemount, Minn.) pitched a scoreless seventh inning to close the victory, SJU's first in Minnesota this spring.

McCurdy led the Johnnies' bats with three hits (3-for-5), while Hemr, Marquardt and Schwellenbach added two apiece. Schwellenbach, the lineup's No. 9 batter, crossed the plate four times.

Game 2 – at Saint John's 10, St. Scholastica 3
Two walks and a passed ball put CSS on the board first to start game two, but a solo shot to left from junior designated hitter Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) evened the score in the third. Two CSS errors helped SJU take the lead four at-bats later. The homer was Helfmann's fifth of the season and 13th of his career.

St. Scholastica added two more in the top of the fourth – both unearned – before SJU put the game away in the bottom half of the inning with seven runs on just three hits. One of those was an RBI triple from Matchey – his first of two in the game – and another was a one-out double from Schwellenbach to get the Johnnies on base at the start of the inning.

Junior Hunter Hoen (Belle Plaine, Minn.) picked up the win (2-1 record) with a seven-inning effort. He allowed three unearned runs on four hits with six strikeouts.

Senior lefty Noah Jensen (St. Cloud, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) pitched two hitless innings in relief.

Marquardt, Matchey and Schwellenbach led SJU with two hits each in the nightcap. Half of the 10 runs scored were driven in.

NATIONAL STATS: Edwards is currently (through April 9) second in NCAA Division III in WHIP (0.71), seventh in hits allowed per nine innings (4.18) and ninth in ERA. As a team, SJU is seventh nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.85), eighth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.84), 10th in WHIP (1.26) and 11th in ERA (3.13).

STAT COMPARISONS
Batting Average
-SJU, .300
-HU, .261

Slugging Percentage
-SJU, .424
-HU, .327

On-Base Percentage
-HU, .396
-SJU, .394

ERA
-SJU, 3.13
-HU, 7.33

Opponent Batting Average
-SJU, .246
-HU, .304

Fielding Percentage
-HU, .957
-SJU, .953

A LOOK AT THE PIPERS: Hamline (10-15, 2-6 MIAC) split Thursday's (April 9) doubleheader at Augsburg. HU's second-inning sacrifice fly to lead 1-0 was not enough as sophomore Bentley Casey tossed six innings, allowing three earned runs off nine hits in game one's 3-1 loss. The Piper offense came alive in game two, however, for a 7-3 victory. Sophomore Ryan Burley went 2-for-4 and notched a pair of RBI. Hamline's bullpen allowed one unearned run and three hits in seven innings to give junior Ben McCrady the win in relief. Burley leads HU in batting (.364), hits (34) and triples (3), while freshman Maddex Van Slooten has a team-best 19 RBI.  

LAST SPRING: SJU earned its second doubleheader sweep in as many days, thanks to a dramatic walk-off win in the nightcap, over Hamline last April 9 (2025) in Collegeville. The Johnnies built a 5-1 lead in a 7-4 win in game one and overcame an 11-3 deficit with eight runs over the final three innings for a 12-11 victory in game two.

Third baseman Joe Becker '24 went 4-for-6 with a home run, two doubles, four RBI, five runs and three walks on the day. Helfmann went 2-for-2 with a home run, double and five RBI in game one. In game two, second baseman Ryan Janzen '25 was 4-for-5 with two triples, a double, two RBI and three runs scored, including the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Game 1 – at Saint John's 7, Hamline 4
Hamline manufactured a run in the top of the first inning before the Johnnies answered with a two-run double in the bottom half of the frame and a three-run blast in the third - both off the bat of Helfmann - for a 5-1 advantage.

The Pipers added their second run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and made it a one-run game (5-4) with a pair of doubles and another sac fly in the sixth.

Catcher Blake Mellgren '25 added some insurance with a one-out homer, his first of the season and fifth of his career, in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Johnnies tacked on an unearned run four batters later.

Drew Lange earned the win, allowing four runs on six hits in 5.1 innings. He struck out two and walked two to improve to 2-0 on the year. Kade Bowar '25 pitched the remaining 1.2 innings of hitless, scoreless relief with two strikeouts for his second save of the season.

Game 2 – at Saint John's 12, Hamline 11
The two teams combined for 36 hits. HU recorded 16 hits through the first four innings, while SJU cracked 11 over the final four frames.

Janzen started the bottom of the ninth inning with a beautiful bunt single and moved to second base on senior first baseman Collin Kray's (Little Falls, Minn.) two-strike sac bunt. Janzen advanced to third on a wild pitch before junior catcher Will Wareham (Lakeville, Minn./North) chopped a 2-2 pitch to the third baseman. Janzen left third base on contact and slid head-first home for the game-winning run before the Pipers' third baseman could make a play.

Marquardt started the bottom of the first inning with a triple and scored on Becker's team-leading seventh home run of the season (28th of his career). Janzen then recorded his first triple of the game in the second inning and scored on Mellgren's two-out single for a quick 3-0 lead.

HU, however, batted around in both the third and fourth innings - totaling 11 runs on 12 hits - to take a commanding 11-3 lead. Tyler Johnson hit a three-run shot in the third and Grant Peltier clubbed a grand slam in the fourth to lead the way.

SJU started the comeback with one run in the sixth inning and two in the seventh before erupting for five to tie the game in the eighth.

First baseman Owen Best '25 smacked his team-leading ninth double to start the bottom of the sixth inning and scored on a two-bagger down the right-field line from Janzen. Marquardt singled with one out in the sixth inning and scored from first on Becker's double down the left-field line. Becker moved to third on a groundout and scored, unearned, on a passed ball.

Right fielder Jake Slipka '25 singled to open the bottom of the eighth inning and scored on Janzen's second triple of the game. Janzen crossed the plate on a single from Wareham, who moved from first to third on a single from Marquardt and scored on another Becker double. Best tied the game with a two-run single through the right side.

Connor Hartley '25 collected his fourth win of the season (4-3 record) in relief after he recorded the final three outs. He stepped in for sophomore Ben Rudser (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) following a leadoff single in the top of the ninth inning. Rudser allowed three hits in 4.2 scoreless innings of relief.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 49-20 against the Pipers since 1993, including a 16-12 record in St. Paul (6-4 at CHS Field).