DAVENPORT, Fla. – Saint John’s baseball returned to the win column with an impressive 11-0 victory in seven innings – the 899th of head coach Jerry Haugen‘s career – over No. 19/25 Rutgers-Camden (N.J.) on Thursday, March 20.
The game was a nine-inning contest but ended after the seventh inning due to the 10-run rule.
Senior third baseman Joe Becker (New Prague, Minn.) broke former teammate Ethan Roe’s program record for home runs with the 26th of his career in the third inning. SJU’s all-time leader in RBI (153) and total bases (335), Becker is also second in doubles (43), hits (194), runs scored (142) and triples (10); fourth in games played (154); and sixth in walks (62).
Senior southpaw Will Fazio (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake) allowed only one hit – a leadoff double in the Scarlet Raptors’ (11-4 overall) first at-bat of the game – and struck out a career-high 10 (with nine walks) in 6.2 innings. Rutgers-Camden, which was ranked high as No. 19 in Monday’s (March 17) D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, batted 0-for-10 with runners on base, including 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position on the day.
Fazio is now 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA, .169 opponent batting average and 25 strikeouts in 19.2 innings so far this season for the Johnnies (8-4 overall).
Senior catcher Blake Mellgren (Northfield, Minn.) and junior shortstop Reed Marquardt (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) singled to start the third inning before Becker’s opposite-field, three-run homer put SJU on the scoreboard and him atop the record book.
SJU sent 11 men to the plate and broke the game open with seven runs on four hits in the fourth inning. Senior second baseman Ryan Janzen (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) walked to begin the frame, stole second base and advanced to third when the Rutgers-Camden shortstop muffed a groundball off the bat of junior left fielder Owen Amrhein (Waconia, Minn.). Sophomore center fielder Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) singled to the pitcher to load the bases before Mellgren induced another error to score a run.
Marquardt then greeted the relief pitcher with a two-run single to right field and Becker walked to re-load the bases. Senior first baseman Owen Best (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) plated Mellgren with a sacrifice fly and sophomore designated hitter Zach Helfmann (St. Louis Park, Minn.) brought in another Johnnie on an RBI single. Junior right fielder Brendan Hemr (Blaine, Minn./Centennial) made it 9-0 with his team-leading sixth double of the season and a balk enabled Helfmann to score the game’s 10th run.
Best doubled to start the sixth inning and eventually scored on a two-out single from Amrhein to end the game’s scoring. Best led SJU with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, while Amrhein, Marquardt and Mellgren had two hits apiece.
Senior Connor Hartley (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Rosemount) relieved Fazio and recorded the game’s final out with the bases loaded.
SJU faces two top-10 teams on Friday, March 21, in Winter Haven, Fla. The Johnnies take on No. 2 Johns Hopkins (Md.) at 9:30 a.m. ET, followed by No. 7 Denison (Ohio) at 1:30 p.m. ET.