Game 1 Box Score |
Game 2 Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Johnnie baseball team's 2026 season came to an end against Macalester in the MIAC Championship series on Friday night, May 9, at CHS Field.
Saint John's needed to defeat Macalester twice to win the title and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Johnnies (27-15 overall) won game one convincingly, 10-3, before falling to the Scots (28-14 overall) 11-6 in the nightcap. The Johnnies out-hit the Scots 15-8 in the opener but left 12 men on base and committed three errors in the finale.
Game 1 – Saint John's 10, Macalester 3
SJU scored seven runs in the first three innings before allowing three in the bottom of the third. Saint John's batted 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position and held Macalester to a 1-for-10 mark in the contest.
Three hits and a Macalester error gave SJU a 2-0 lead after the top of the first. Freshman shortstop
Will Koeppen (Minnetonka, Minn.), who led the game off with a double, drove in another run in the next frame with a bunt, followed by an
Alex Matchey (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) two-run single.
Senior left fielder
Owen Amrhein (Waconia, Minn.) singled to drive in senior third baseman
Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) in the top of the third, and a fielder's choice RBI from junior center fielder
Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) padded the lead.
MAC scored on a single, an RBI ground-out and a wild pitch in the bottom of the third. Senior right fielder
Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) made up one of the runs, leading off the top of the fourth with his ninth home run of the year. Marquardt singled to score two in the sixth for the 10-3 final.
Junior
Carter Theisen (Rosemount, Minn.) pitched three innings and allowed all three Macalester runs on a pair of hits in the no-decision start.
Junior
Brady Drkula (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) earned the win (1-1 record) in three innings of relief, while senior
Jack Dobesh (Edina, Minn.) finished his two innings of work without issuing a free pass.
Senior
Noah Jensen (St. Cloud, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) capped the scoreless trifecta with a strikeout and one hit in the bottom of the ninth.
Game 2 – Macalester 11, Saint John's 6
Macalester gained a quick 2-0 lead on three hits off junior
Hunter Hoen (Belle Plaine, Minn.), who was making his second start in as many days.
Junior designated hitter
Will Wareham (Lakeville, Minn./North) cut SJU's deficit in half with an RBI double down the right-field line in the second inning and the Scots walked in two runs to surrender the lead in the fourth, but the Johnnies left the bases loaded. SJU had runners on first and third with nobody out in the third inning and did not score.
Mac answered with a sac fly to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the frame gained a 6-3 lead with three runs in the fifth.
Koeppen and Matchey recorded RBI singles in the sixth inning to make it a one-run game, but Macalester scored three unearned runs thanks to two SJU errors in the seventh.
Marquardt drove in the Johnnies' final run of the season with a double in the eighth inning and the Scots responded with two, all with two outs, in the bottom half.
SJU ended the game 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-2 with the bases loaded.
Freshman
Max Edwards (Rockford, Minn.) took the loss (6-3 record) in relief, allowing four runs on three hits in 1.1 innings.
Hoen gave up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts over the first three innings.
Senior
Vinny Schleper (Shakopee, Minn.) was tagged with the three unearned runs in 2.2 innings and Jensen surrendered two runs in one inning of work.
Koeppen went 3-for-4 with two RBI to lead the Johnnies, while Marquardt, Matchey and Schwellenbach all had two hits.
Marquardt batted .545 (12-for-22) with nine RBI, seven runs scored and three extra-base hits (two doubles and triple) over the five MIAC Tournament games. Matchey was 9-for-21 (.429) and Amrhein went 7-for-18. Koeppen batted .364 (8-for-22) with five runs scored and a .462 on-base percentage.
