Saint John's (Minn.) 8, North Central (Ill.) 2
La Crosse, Wis. - Saint John's University (Minn.) avoided elimination at the NCAA Division III Baseball Midwest Regional Friday afternoon at Copeland Park with an 8-2 victory over North Central College (Ill.). The Johnnies improve to 30-13 on the season and will play Friday at 7:45 p.m. against the winner of the The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.)/Luther College (Iowa) game scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Friday. North Central (Ill.) ends its season with a record of 31-12.
North Central (Ill.) started the scoring in the bottom of the first. Jeremy Quade singled to open the frame. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a throwing error from the catcher. Bobby Smith's single to right field scored Quade to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
In the third, North Central (Ill.) added another run. Quade walked and advanced to second when Sing Fong was hit-by-pitch. The runners moved up on a double steal, and Quade scored on a Michael Mateja single to make it 2-0.
Saint John's (Minn.) got on the board in the top of the fourth with a solo home run from Logan Hershey to cut the lead to 2-1. The Johnnies added three runs on four hits in the fifth to grab the lead. Gabe MacDonald tripled to center field to lead-off the inning followed by a Max Jackson single driving in MacDonald to tie the game at 2-2. Cole Weaver singled, moving Jackson to second, and a sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position with one out. Hershey hit a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Jackson to give the Johnnies their first lead of the game at 3-2. Patrick Strey followed with a double to right field, driving in Weaver to make it 4-2.
In the seventh, Saint John's (Minn.) extended the lead on a two-run home run from Derek Schiebel to left center, and the lead was 6-2. Two more runs in the eighth made it 8-2 in favor of the Johnnies. Jack Wingerd walked and advanced to second on a passed ball. Dan Keller singled, driving in Wingerd, and after a sacrifice bunt moved Keller to second, he scored on a Jackson single to center field.
Ben Etzell (4-1) earned the complete-game win for Saint John's (Minn.), pitching 9.0 innings, allowing two runs on nine hits. He struck out five and walked two in pitching his first complete-game of the season.
Jackson led the Johnnies going 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run. Hershey went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI while Schiebel added a hom erun and two RBI. Strey had two doubles and an RBI while Weaver finished 2-for-4 with two runs.
Bryan Palowy (5-3) took the loss for North Central (Ill.), giving up six runs on 11 hits in 6.0 innings. He struck out seven. Quade went 2-for-4, scoring both runs for the Cardinals. Smith also finished 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
