Saint John's (Minn.) 7, Concordia Chicago (Ill.) 5 (11 innings)
La Crosse, Wis. – Saint John's University (Minn.) advanced to the NCAA Division III Baseball Midwest Regional Championship Saturday with a 7-5 win in 11 innings over Concordia University Chicago (Ill.) at Copeland Park. The Johnnies improve to 32-13 on the season and will play undefeated UW-La Crosse Saturday afternoon in the title game. A second championship would be played Sunday, May 22 at noon if the Johnnies defeat the Eagles in the first match-up. Concordia Chicago (Ill.) ends its season at 34-13.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, when Concordia Chicago (Ill.) finally got on the board. Joe Silva singled to start the frame and later scored on a Mitch Wilson single to left field, giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
Concordia Chicago (Ill.) added two runs in the bottom of the fifth. The first batter of the inning, Jacob Frank, was hit-by-pitch, followed by an Andrew Kroncke single to right field, moving Frank to third. Frank scored on a groundout from Bryan VanDuser to make it 2-0. Silva struck out, but reached first on a wild pitch. On a steal attempt from Silva, Kroncke came home from third to score before Silva was caught in a rundown and thrown out, giving the Cougars a 3-0 lead after five innings.
Saint John's (Minn.) rallied in the seventh to take the lead. After Cole Weaver drew a one-out walk, Derek Schiebel singled to right, advancing Weaver to third. Weaver scored the Johnnies' first run on a Logan Hershey single to right field making it 3-1. Two batters later, Mike Stegora singled up the middle, scoring Schiebel, and it was 3-2. The next batter was Jack Wingerd, who singled, driving in Hershey to tie the game at 3-3. After a pitching change for Concordia Chicago (Ill.), Dan Keller doubled to deep center field, driving in Wingerd and Stegora to give the Johnnies the 5-3 advantage.
Concordia Chicago (Ill.) needed two runs in the bottom of the ninth, and Doug Matthews delivered with a two-out, two-run home run to right to tie the game at 5-5 and send the game to extra innings. VanDuser had reached base on a throwing error earlier in the inning.
Saint John's (Minn.) scored twice in the top of the 11th. Strey singled to right field to begin the inning, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. WIngerd walked, followed by a Keller double to right, scoring Strey to make it 6-5. Wingerd scored on a sacrifice fly from Gabe MacDonald to give the Johnnies a 7-5 lead.
Concordia Chicago (Ill.) put two runners on in the bottom of the inning, but Nick Noack came in for Saint John's (Minn.) and got the last two batters out to secure the victory.
Alex Kendall (8-2) picked up the win for Saint John's (Minn.). He came on in the seventh, pitching 4.1 innings for the Johnnies, giving up two runs on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Noack picked up his fifth save of the season, getting the final two outs.
Keller went 3-for-6 with three RBI and two doubles for Saint John's (Minn.). Strey was also 3-for-6 with a double and one run. Schiebel, Hershey, Stegora, and MacDonald each had two hits. All nine starters for the Johnnies recorded at least one hit.
Mike Formella (8-4) took the loss for Concordia Chicago (Ill.) giving up two runs on four hits in 4.0 innings while walking two. Matthews, who had come in to pinch hit in the seventh, hit the two-out, two-run home run in the ninth to send the game to extra-innings. Brady Roberts had two hits for the Cougars while VanDuser and Wilson both drove in a run.
