Saint John's University - SJU Begins NCAA Baseball Regional ...

Saint John's (29-14) begins the double-elimination McMinnville (Ore.) Regional against top-seeded No. 9/12 Concordia of Texas (36-9) this Wednesday, May 16. The nine-inning game is scheduled for 2 p.m. (noon PST) at Roy Helser Field on the campus of Linfield College. ? Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM; requires Real Audio) | Live Stats/Regional Website | NCAA Tournament Pairings | NCAA Game Program

Preview Video:
-Head coach Jerry Haugen (3:42)

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: The SJU-Concordia (Texas) game is the first of the Regional's schedule. If the Johnnies win on Wednesday, they will face the losing team in the Wednesday's nightcap, which features La Verne (Calif.) and Whitworth (Wash.), at 3:30 p.m. PST on Thursday. A loss Wednesday would pit SJU against the losing team from Wednesday's 3:30 p.m. game, Trinity (Texas) and Coe (Iowa). The Regional is scheduled to wrap up on Saturday, though Sunday is designated as a weather make-up date if the Pacific Northwest's climate becomes a hindrance. Early forecasts predict plenty of sunshine for Western Oregon all week. Winners of the eight regional tournaments will qualify for the double-elimination NCAA Championship scheduled for May 25-29 in Appleton, Wis.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's won its first MIAC Baseball Playoff Championship (in addition to its 13 regular-season titles) to earn the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 10-5 victory over No. 2 St. Thomas on May 13 in Minnetonka. With the victory, SJU also tied its program record for most wins in a season, 29-8 in 1994, the Johnnies' first trip to the NCAA Tournament. St. Thomas forced the one-game championship with a 6-3 win against SJU earlier in the day Sunday. The Johnnies bounced back, however, taking control of the title game with a seven-run third inning en route to the 10-5 victory.

Freshman catcher Kurt Jantscher (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) walked to start the third inning of the championship game and sophomore outfielder Tom Druk (Plymouth, Minn./Orono) doubled to left center to tie the game at 1-1. UST's Zach Franz hit the next batter, freshman outfielder Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral), before junior Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) cleared the bases with a two-run double.

Junior shortstop Max Forster (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) greeted the new reliever, John Licht, with a two-run homer, his fourth of the season, to make it 5-1. Sophomore outfielder Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) singled through the left side and sophomore designated hitter Josh Groth (Fridley, Minn.) blasted his second home run of the season to plate the Johnnies' sixth and seventh runs of the inning, all with no outs.

St. Thomas' Dylan Thomas tallied a two-out, RBI single in the fifth but was thrown out at home attempting to score on a double from Charles Bruchu to end the inning.

Back-to-back walks and an error on a sac bunt attempt from Pfaff loaded the bases for SJU in the sixth before Forster extended SJU's lead to 9-2 with a two-run single.

UST loaded the bases with nobody out in both the seventh and eighth innings but managed to score only three runs. Tim Kuzniar singled in a pair of runs in the seventh to cut UST's deficit to 9-4. Thomas hit a bloop single to right field, but Ben Podobinski was thrown out at home attempting to score from second for the first out of the inning. The Tommies' next batter, Bruchu, lifted what looked to be a sac fly to center, but Graves made the catch and threw out Thomas tagging from second before Kuzniar reached home plate.

Senior outfielder Brace Hemmelgarn (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) ripped a two-out, RBI double to bring in Jantscher in the bottom half of the inning. Jantscher, who made his first start of the season behind the plate, walked three times and scored two runs from the No. 8 spot in the lineup.

The Tommies managed to load the bases, and eventually score a run, with no hits in the eighth to end the scoring for both teams.

Junior Scott Schroeder (Richmond, Minn./Rocori) improved to 4-0 with the win, his fourth start of the season, allowing four runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts in six innings. Sophomore catcher Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) allowed two hits in an inning of work, while junior Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan) struck out two in two innings of hitless relief. He allowed one hit and struck out three in four innings (three appearances) of scoreless relief in the tournament.

ALL-MIAC: Seven Johnnies were named All-MIAC, including five on the first team, on May 15. Cline,?Graves,?Long, junior pitcher Ryan Spengler (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) and senior pitcher Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.) were named to the first team. Forster and sophomore third baseman Luke Larson (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) were named honorable mention, and senior first baseman Ben Moen (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) was named to the MIAC All-Sportsmanship team.

ZIMMERMAN CONTINUES TO CLIMB: Zimmerman enters the NCAA Regional second in school history in both strikeouts (153) and innings pitched (200.2), and is tied for third in wins (18). He has a 7-2 record and a 2.03 ERA, .200 opponent batting average and a 3.16 strikeout/walk ratio in 71 innings pitched. Zimmerman is 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA in his last 26.2 innings pitched.

HOMERS IN BUNCHES: SJU, which hit only seven home runs all of last year (33 games), has cracked six homers in its last five games. The Johnnies have recorded six multi-homer games this season and their average of 0.35 per game is the most since 2007's 0.46 (thanks to a combined 14 round-trippers from Jay Kasner '07 and Shawn Schoenberg '07). Forster and Graves have combined for five homers in SJU's last five games.

PFAFF AT THE TOP: Pfaff batted .389 (7-for-18) with a .522 on-base percentage in his last six games, including a .364 (4-for-11) average with a .563 on-base percentage in last weekend's MIAC Tournament. The freshman leads the squad with 10 stolen bases (10-for-12) and is second in both runs scored (26) and on-base percentage (.411) from the leadoff spot.

1998: The Johnnies' oldest player, Ben Moen (Aug. 15, 1989), was three months shy of his ninth birthday the last time SJU was in the NCAA Tournament. SJU went 0-2 by dropping the opener to St. Thomas (10-1) before falling to the eventual region champ, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 2-1 in 10 innings. The Titans advanced to finish fifth at the NCAA Division III College World Series with a 41-5 record. Current assistant/first-base coach Chad Krueger '99 was the Johnnies' starting shortstop. First baseman Tony Giuliani '99 entered the Regional batting .500 (44-for-88) with nine of the Johnnies' 33 regular-season home runs.

BELATED GRADUATION: Due to the Johnnies' pair of games Sunday at the MIAC Tournament, four seniors (Brace Hemmelgarn, Bert Marsnik, Ben Moen, Hayden Zimmerman) missed their commencement ceremony with 419 other undergraduates. The four, along with their families, teammates, head coach Jerry Haugen and assistant coach Thom Woodward, held a private graduation with SJU President Fr. Robert Koopman, OSB, Monday afternoon.

TWO-DAY'S REST: The SJU baseball team has been through a lot the past few days: an emotional high by claiming the MIAC Playoff title Sunday; essentially one day off Monday; and then an early 4 a.m. departure for the airport and a flight to Oregon on Tuesday. An advantage for the trip? The Johnnies gain two hours of rest. The disadvantage? The rest is only a two-day span, while some schools in the regional have had upwards of 17 days off.

Days Since Its Last Game, Up to May 16's Regional
2 ? SJU, May 13
3 ? Coe (Iowa), May 12
9 ? Concordia (Texas), May 6
16 ? Whitworth (Wash.), April 29
17 ? La Verne (Calif.), April 28
17 ? Trinity (Texas), April 28

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Concordia, which has been ranked as high as fourth nationally this season, is listed at No. 9 in the latest American Baseball Coaches' Association (ABCA) poll, released May 15, and No. 12 according to D3baseball.com. The Johnnies received votes in the May 15's ABCA poll.

A LOOK AT THE TORNADOS: Concordia is led by ASC West Division Co-Player of the Year, senior catcher Collin Janssen, who is batting .329 with 34 RBI, a team-leading five home runs and 16 doubles over 45 appearances and 44 starts. Sophomore outfielder Brent Schaekel, the only player to start all of CU's 45 games, leads the team in batting average (.360), hits (62) and stolen bases (16) and is tied for first on the squad in RBI (36) and runs scored (36). Infielder Kyle Rodriguez, the ASC West Division Freshman of the Year, is batting .326 with 22 RBI. Senior lefty Scott Hays, a transfer from Division I Alabama, is the ace of the Tornados' pitching staff that owns a 2.60 ERA, .240 opponent batting average and 348 strikeouts (to 114 walks) in 387 innings. He has a 7-3 record with a 2.49 ERA and a league-best 75 strikeouts. Junior Tyler Grygar is 6-2 with a 2.53 ERA to go along with 55 strikeouts against only 11 walks, while senior Jacob Spelbring and junior Ryan Ullmann have combined for 11 saves and 69 strikeouts in 51.2 innings of relief. Concordia, which carries 12 community/junior college transfers. The Tornados bat .292 as a team but have only six home runs on the year, averaging an extra-base hit every 14.79 at-bats (compared to 15 homers and a 13.38 average?for SJU).

A FIRST: Wednesday's meeting with Concordia is the first for SJU against a Texas school in the sport of baseball, and the 12th in the athletic department's history (Basketball: 0-3 record vs. Stephen F. Austin, Southwest Texas State and Saint Mary's; Football: 3-1 record vs. Prairie View A&M, Hardin-Simmons, Trinity and East Texas Baptist; Soccer: 2-2 record vs. Trinity and Hardin-Simmons).?

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