Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's baseball closed its regular-season schedule with an 11-5 non-conference win over Minnesota-Morris on Monday, May 4, at Haugen Field at Becker Park.
The Johnnies (25-14, 13-7 MIAC) broke open a 5-4 lead with six runs on five hits in the bottom of the eighth inning.
SJU batted 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position, while holding Minnesota-Morris (18-19, 12-6 UMAC) to a 4-for-16 showing. UMM went 0-for-8 with two outs.
Junior center fielder
Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) fell a home run short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with three RBI, a double and a triple. Senior first baseman
Collin Kray (Little Falls, Minn.) and junior designated hitter
Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) both went 2-for-4. Helfmann drove in two and finished 5-for-7 with seven RBI and three doubles in two games against the Cougars this season.
UMM found the scoreboard first with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning but SJU answered with one in the fifth and three in the sixth. Kray launched a ground-rule double with one out in the fifth and scored on Schwellenbach's first hit of the day – a single – two batters later.
Senior third baseman
Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) walked to start the bottom of the sixth inning and scored on Helfmann's RBI double down the left-field line in the next at-bat. Junior catcher
Will Wareham (Lakeville, Minn./North) walked and SJU risked leaving runners on second and third with nobody out, but Schwellenbach ripped a two-out triple to the left-center gap for a 4-2 lead.
A leadoff home run off the bat of the Cougars' Bradie Black cut the lead to one in the top of the seventh inning and Helfmann drove in an unearned run in the bottom half before the six-run eighth. A leadoff walk came around to score for UMM in the ninth inning for the game's final run.
Freshman
Joseph Larson (Farmington, Minn.) made his first collegiate start and allowed one hit with three strikeouts in two innings.
Sophomore
Dylan Marciulionis (Esko, Minn.) earned the win with a pair of earned runs and four hits in four innings of work.
Sophomore
Ben Rudser (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) allowed one Morris run and struck out a batter in the top of the seventh before senior lefty
Noah Jensen (St. Cloud, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) earned a two-inning save with a trio of strikeouts and one earned run. Jensen entered the game with a 5-3 lead.
Third-seeded SJU opens its 16th-consecutive appearance at the four-team MIAC Tournament against second-seeded Macalester (26-14, 15-5 MIAC) at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 7, at CHS Field in St. Paul. Top-seeded Bethel (29-8, 17-3 MIAC) takes on fourth-seeded Saint Mary's (24-15, 12-8 MIAC) in the tournament's first game at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
