Game 1 Box Score |
Game 2 Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's baseball earned a key sweep of St. Olaf, 1-0 in 10 innings and 9-4, on Sunday, April 19, at Haugen Field at Becker Park.
Junior
Matthew Magnuson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) picked up the complete-game shutout for SJU (16-11, 7-5 MIAC) in the opener, allowing only two hits to go with eight strikeouts in 10 innings. He is now 4-2 with a 1.59 ERA, .210 opponent batting average and 29 strikeouts in a team-leading 45.1 innings this spring.
The 10 innings pitched were the most by a Johnnie in a single outing since Hayden Zimmerman '12 registered 10.2 on March 19, 2011 – a 6-5 win in 14 innings over Springfield (Mass.) in Chandler, Ariz.
The Johnnies erased an early 1-0 deficit with five runs in the second inning and tacked on three more in an eventual 9-4 victory to complete the sweep.
St. Olaf (10-20, 5-7 MIAC) entered the doubleheader as the MIAC leader in batting average (.358), slugging percentage (.564) and on-base percentage (.444) in conference play. Three SJU pitchers, however, held the Oles to a .175 batting average (10-for-57) and registered 13 strikeouts in 17 innings on the mound Sunday.
Game 1 – at Saint John's 1, St. Olaf 0 (10 inn.)
Magnuson went out for the seventh inning and set down nine-straight STO batters. He walked the leadoff batter in the top of the 10th inning and the baserunner moved to second on a sacrifice bunt for the first out, but Magnuson ended the threat with a flyout and strikeout.
Junior catcher
Mason McCurdy (Lake Elmo, Minn./Stillwater Area) singled to start the bottom of the 10th, but his pinch runner – freshman
Dawson Franke (Golden Valley, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) – became the first out on a fielder's choice off the bat of senior left fielder
Owen Amrhein (Waconia, Minn.). An infield popup kept Amrhein at first base and served as the second out, but the senior stole second (his fifth of the season). Freshman shortstop
Will Koeppen (Minnetonka, Minn.) followed with a groundball to second base, but the Ole mishandled it and Amrhein came around to score for the walk-off win.
Senior third baseman
Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) and junior second baseman
Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) each went 2-for-4 at the plate.
Both teams were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and combined to go 0-for-18 with runners on base.
Game 2 – at Saint John's 9, St. Olaf 4
The Oles' first two batters of game two reached with a single and walk off freshman lefty
Dylan Bloom (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) and gained a quick 1-0 lead with an RBI groundout in the top of the first inning.
SJU broke the game open with five runs on six hits, including four-consecutive singles – in the bottom of the second inning. Junior designated hitter
Will Wareham (Lakeville, Minn./North) walked to start the frame and moved up a base on a sac bunt from Marquardt. McCurdy tied the game with an RBI single in the ensuing at-bat and the Johnnies loaded the bases on singles from Amrhein and junior center fielder
Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge).
Koeppen made it 3-1 with a two-run single and junior first baseman
Justin Brooks (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) put runners on the corners with a fielder's choice. Matchey drove in Schwellenbach with a single and senior right fielder
Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) made it 5-1 with his fifth double of the season.
The momentum carried over to the third inning, where the home team greeted STO's first relief pitcher of the game with three runs on three hits for an 8-1 advantage. Marquardt was hit by a pitch and McCurdy walked. Schwellenbach plated Marquardt with a double and Koeppen followed with an RBI groundout. Brooks tallied the inning's third run with a two-out, RBI single.
Hemr walked to start the bottom of the sixth inning, stole second, moved to third on a balk and scored on a sac fly from Marquardt.
STO ended the scoring with three runs, one earned, in the top of the seventh inning off senior
Noah Jensen (St. Cloud, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice).
Bloom improved to 2-1 with the win. He allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts in six innings.
Koeppen, Matchey and Schwellenbach each totaled a pair of hits. Koeppen finished with three RBI in game two and Schwellenbach scored a pair of runs. Four other Johnnies tallied a hit.
SJU visits Macalester (22-10, 11-3 MIAC) for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday, April 21, at Nicholson Field in St. Paul.
