Baseball 4/9/05 -- St. John's 6-7, Augsburg 1-10

GAME 1 BOXSCORE
GAME 2 BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (4/9/05) -- Nathan Deutz (Jr., Ghent, Minn./Marshall HS) pitched a complete-game five-hitter for the win in the first game for St. John's University, and Matt Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS) had two doubles and drove in three runs in the second game for Augsburg College, as the teams split a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Parade Stadium.

St. John's won the first game 6-1, while Augsburg scored a 10-7 win in the second game. Augsburg is now 11-9 overall, 3-3 in MIAC play, while St. John's is now 12-6 overall, 5-1 in MIAC play.

Jay Kasner (So., Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) went 4-for-7 in the doubleheader for the Johnnies, with a two-run home run in the first game and two doubles in the second game, driving in two runs.

Meanwhile, Augsburg workhorse pitcher Tyler Kraft (So., Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS) appeared in both games, pitching 4.2 innings of long relief in the second game to score the win and improve to 4-0 on the season, striking out five. Kraft has now appeared in 11 of Augsburg's 20 games this season, including two doubleheaders where he appeared in both games.

Deutz struck out five while walking one and allowing just five hits to score the first-game win for the Johnnies. Augsburg's lone run against Deutz came in the third inning, as Brian Bambenek (So., St. Charles, Minn.) was hit by a pitch and later scored on a double-play grounder.

Meanwhile, the Johnnies manufactured their runs on 10 hits in the first game. After scoring one run in the second inning, Kasner's two-run homer in the third inning gave the Johnnies the lead for good. Consecutive doubles by Alec Rolle (Sr., Nassau, Bahamas/North Broward Prep HS) and Brent Hemmelgarn (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral HS) drove in a run in the fourth inning, and a double by Josh Thom (Sr., Farmington, Minn.) scored two runs in the seventh frame.

Eric Grant (Jr., Coon Rapids, Minn.) started the first game for Augsburg and struck out four in 6.2 innings of work. Adam Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) started the second game and struck out three in 2.1 innings of work.

Augsburg scored eight of its 10 runs in the second game in the first three innings against three Johnnie pitchers. A double by Johnson and single by Taylor Pagel (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn.) brought home runs in the first inning, and a sacrifice fly by Jeff Stomberg (Fr., Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) plated a run in the second inning.

Augsburg sent nine hitters to the plate in the third inning, scoring five runs on just one hit. The Auggies took advantage of two Johnnie errors in the frame, and all five runs scored in the inning were unearned. The key hit in the frame was a two-run double down the left-field line by Johnson.

The Auggies scored a run in the fourth inning on a run-scoring single by Mike Zaun (Fr., Mendota Heights, Minn./Henry Sibley HS), and added another run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Stomberg.

St. John's made the game close late, with a sacrifice fly by Chris Bell (Sr., Little Falls, Minn.) in the third inning, a run-scoring double by Hemmelgarn and two-run double by Kasner in the fourth, and a run-scoring single by Bell and two-run double by Scott LaVoy (Jr., Tracy, Minn./Tracy-Milroy HS) in the seventh.

Both teams return to MIAC play with home doubheleaders on Tuesday (4/12) at 2:30 p.m., as Augsburg hosts Hamline at Parade Stadium and St. John's plays host to St. Thomas.