Saint John's visits Macalester for another key MIAC doubleheader at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, at Nicholson Field in St. Paul. – Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (16-11, 7-5 MIAC) earned a key sweep of St. Olaf, 1-0 in 10 innings and 9-4, yesterday (Sunday, April 19) at Haugen Field at Becker Park.

Junior Matthew Magnuson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) picked up the complete-game shutout in the opener, allowing only two hits to go with eight strikeouts in 10 innings. 

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 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.

A WALK-OFF ERROR: Koeppen's walk-off is the first for the Johnnies via error since Bert Marsnik '12 against Gustavus Adolphus on May 8, 2010, in Collegeville. Marsnik's game-winner was his second of the doubleheader on that date (walk-off single in game one). Sunday's win was SJU's 48th walk-off in the past 20 years. 

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Magnuson was named the MIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week earlier today (Monday, April 20) for his 10-inning, complete-game shutout on Sunday against St. Olaf. The Oles were 0-for-8 with runners on base, including 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, and 1-for-11 with two outs against Magnuson. 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-inning shutout is SJU's best on record and the 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.

NATIONAL STATS: Freshman Max Edwards (Rockford, Minn.) currently (through April 19) leads all of NCAA Division III in WHIP (0.76), is second in ERA (0.88) and fourth in hits allowed per nine innings (4.39). He is 5-0 with 45 strikeouts in 41 innings pitched (seven appearances, five starts) this spring. As a team, SJU is sixth in Division III in walks allowed per nine innings (2.85), seventh in both ERA (3.11) and WHIP (1.22), 10th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.72) and 13th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.12).

STAT COMPARISONS (ranked by conference play) 
Batting Average
2. MAC, .316 (.309 overall)
6. SJU, .280 (.296 overall)

Slugging Percentage
4. MAC, .447 (.417 overall)
7. SJU, .360 (.410 overall)

On-Base Percentage
2. MAC, .426 (.414 overall)
9. SJU, .363 (.385 overall)

ERA
1. SJU, 2.98 (3.11 overall)
5. MAC, 5.47 (5.75 overall)

Opponent Batting Average
1. SJU, .236 (.244 overall)
5. MAC, .282 (.284 overall)

Fielding Percentage
3. SJU, .971 (.961 overall)
5. MAC, .965 (.967 overall)

A LOOK AT THE SCOTS: Macalester (22-10, 11-3 MIAC) earned its fifth-consecutive win to complete a sweep of Carleton on Sunday (April 19) in Northfield. The Scots outscored the Knights 31-3 in the doubleheader. Nine different Macalester batters registered an RBI in game one's 20-2 victory. Freshman John McMurray notched a pair of RBI in his 3-for-3 effort at the plate. The tandem of junior Jack Nussbaum and senior Tristan Collins recorded 13 punchouts and one earned run through their seven innings on the bump. Sophomore Tristan Lander kept the bats alive in game two's 11-1 win with four RBI in a 3-for-4 game. The Scots utilized five pitchers to shut down the Knights' bats with eight strikeouts. 

McMurray leads the Macalester offense in batting (.414), hits (48) and RBI (34). Senior Raymond McCaskey follows close behind with a .404 average, but leads the squad in doubles (12), triples (4) and home runs (4). Senior Evan Kang boasts a 0.00 ERA with opponents batting .083 through 10.2 innings of work. 

LAST SPRING: SJU opened the 2025 MIAC schedule with a shutout sweep of Macalester, 3-0 and 2-0, last March 28 in Collegeville. Three Johnnie pitchers accounted for the 16 shutout innings and allowed a combined seven singles – a .135 batting average (7-for-52) – with 11 strikeouts and only one free pass (a walk). The Scots took the field Friday batting .297 through the season's first 12 games but were 0-for-13 with runners on base (0-for-6 in scoring position) and 1-for-16 (.063) with two outs against SJU.

Game 1 – at Saint John's 3, Macalester 0
Connor Hartley '25 recorded the 69-pitch gem (47 strikes) for the complete-game shutout in a snappy one hour and 17 minutes. He allowed three hits and struck out three.

Third baseman Joe Becker '24 singled with one out in the bottom of the first inning and came around to score on back-to-back, two-out singles from Hemr and junior designated hitter Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) to give the home team an early 1-0 lead.

Schwellenbach, like Becker an inning earlier, singled with one out to manufacture another run in the second. He moved from first to third on a single from catcher Blake Mellgren '25 and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Marquardt.

Second baseman Ryan Janzen '25 tripled to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning and scored on a sac fly from Schwellenbach in the next at-bat for end the game's scoring. Jansen led SJU with two hits in the game one.

The Scots' Cam Scholl, the reigning MIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week at the time, entered the game with 17 scoreless innings (one unearned run) so far this season and took the loss, allowing all three runs on eight hits.

Game 2 – at Saint John's 2, Macalester 0
Southpaw Will Fazio '25 matched Hartley's seven scoreless innings but combined with junior Carter Theisen (Rosemount, Minn.) for the shutout as a nine-inning game. Fazio surrendered three hits and struck out six, while Theisen gave up one hit and struck out three for his first collegiate save. 

Hemr gave the Johnnies a 1-0 lead when he singled with one out in the fourth inning, stole second base and scored on a two-out single from Matchey.

Marquardt battled back from a 0-2 count and coaxed a walk to start the bottom of the eighth inning, advanced to second base on a sac bunt from Becker and scored on an RBI single from first baseman Owen Best '25 to give SJU some insurance.

Helfmann and Matchey led SJU with two hits apiece in the nightcap.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 21-5 against Macalester over the last 26 meetings and is 20-4 on the Scots' home field since 1993 (52-13 overall during that span).