Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Saint John's baseball advanced to Championship Saturday with a nail-biting, 9-8 win over Saint Mary's on Friday night, May 8, at CHS Field.
The Johnnies (27-15 overall) face Macalester (28-14 overall) for the MIAC playoff championship at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 9. SJU needs to defeat the Scots twice to win the title and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
SJU built a pair of four-run leads, 4-0 and 5-1, but Saint Mary's (25-17 overall) chipped away with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and tied the game with two more (one earned) in the sixth. Back-to-back doubles gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game with one out in the seventh inning before the Johnnies erupted for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Junior
Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) started the eighth-inning rally with a pinch-hit blast to left field to tie the game. The line-drive homer was his sixth long ball of the season and 14th of his career.
Junior second baseman
Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) then reached on an infield single, junior catcher
Mason McCurdy (Lake Elmo, Minn./Stillwater Area) was hit by a pitch and senior third baseman
Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) loaded the bases with a bunt single. Junior first baseman
Justin Brooks (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) gave the lead back to SJU – 7-6 – with a sacrifice fly for the first out of the inning.
Junior designated hitter
Will Wareham (Lakeville, Minn./North) ripped an RBI double down the left-field line to force a pitching change and senior left fielder
Owen Amrhein (Waconia, Minn.) walked to re-load the bases. Junior center fielder
Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) made it 9-6 with a sac fly in the ensuing at-bat.
SMU cut into the Johnnies' lead with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning off
Vinny Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.), but the senior induced a fly ball to Schwellenbach in center for the game's final out and his second save of the day (fourth of the season).
The Johnnies got off to a fast start by plating four runs in the first inning. Freshman shortstop
Will Koeppen (Minnetonka, Minn.) walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a single from Matchey. McCurdy walked to load the bases and Marquardt brought in two runs with the first of his four hits in the contest. Brooks followed with a two-run double to the right-center field gap.
The Cardinals manufactured a two-out run in the top of the third inning and Amrhein answered with an RBI single in the bottom half.
Senior
Jack Dobesh (Edina, Minn.) picked up the win in relief (1-1 record), allowing one run on two hits in two innings.
Freshman southpaw
Dylan Bloom (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) made the start and surrendered three runs on eight hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked five.
Junior
Matthew Magnuson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) made his second relief appearance of the day and gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits in an inning.
Marquardt went 4-for-5 – the second four-hit game of his career – while Amrhein, Brooks (three RBI) and Matchey all had two hits.
Marquardt finished 6-for-9 with five RBI and three runs scored in Friday's two games. Brooks (four RBI) and McCurdy (three runs) both went 3-for-8.
The Johnnies eliminated top-seeded Bethel (29-10 overall) 4-3 earlier in the day, while Saint Mary's dropped the winner's bracket game to Macalester, 11-4.
