SJU baseball team overcomes tough start to climb back to .500

The St. John’s baseball team started the 2023 season with an 8-8 record with trips to Kansas, Florida and Arizona to avoid the unplayable conditions in Minnesota this spring. The Johnnies started the season at the end of last month (Feb. 25) by dropping two of three games to Luther College in Leavenworth, Kan. The Johnnies won game one in 10 innings thanks to a go-ahead home run from senior first baseman Max Nyrop.

The Johnnies took losses in the next two games and were outscored 13-1. The Johnnies then headed south for their annual spring break trip to Florida where they played seven games in six days. SJU started with three games in Port Charlotte before heading to Fort Myers to play the remaining four. St. John’s went 3-4 during the trip to bring their overall record to 4-6. SJU opened the spring break trip with a close loss to the No. 3 team in the country, Baldwin Wallace, by a final score of 7-6. SJU then took a narrow 4-3 loss in 11 innings to Misericordia, who received votes in this week’s D3baseball.com poll.

The Johnnies then put together their first winning streak of the season by beating Lebanon Valley (5-3), Pittsburgh-Bradford (11-6) and Hiram (8-7). SJU could not maintain the momentum as they dropped their final two games to Wabash Valley and Augustana (Ill.) by scores of 16-6 and 9-0 respectively. Augustana was the first team out of the D3baseball.com top 25 poll. The Johnnies went into last weekend’s trip to Tucson, Ariz., looking to improve their 4-6 record. St. John’s started the trip with a doubleheader split to Wesleyan. SJU lost game one by a final score of 3-1 and won game two 12-8. SJU then took a 17-7 loss to Concordia (Wis.) before scoring six runs in the top of the 10th inning to take a 12-7 victory over Redlands. The Johnnies finished the weekend trip on a high note, taking both games of a doubleheader over Oberlin by scores of 12-2 and 10-4. The 4-2 record in Tucson brings SJU’s overall record to 8-8.

“The season has been going well,” senior pitcher Wyatt Rudolf said via email. “We just ended our Arizona trip on a sweep which puts us right at .500, an increase from where the team was at last year coming out of the spring trips and a good spot to be in heading into conference play. There are still a few aspects of our game we need to clean up if we want to have a successful conference campaign this year, but I’m confident that we can make that happen.”

The schedule thus far has not been easy for SJU, especially in Florida where they went 3-4. The four teams the Johnnies lost to in Florida currently boast a 49-15 record (.766 winning percentage).

“Seeing other teams play at such a high level has helped give us a vision for what we need to do ourselves if we want to be successful,” Nyrop said via email. “I fully believe we have more talent than almost any D3 team, but we are not nearly as polished as we need to be. The good teams didn’t beat us because their players were better, faster and stronger, they won because their pitchers threw strikes, their hitters put the ball in play and their fielders made routine outs. If we can play clean baseball like they did, I’m fully confident we will win the MIAC.”

The Johnnies are scheduled to host Crown College this Saturday (March 25) and start conference play the following Saturday (April 1) in Collegeville. As of now, the weather does not look promising. With temperatures staying below 50 degrees for the next 10 days, the Johnnies likely will be stuck in the dome for longer than they would like.

“Minnesota weather always poses issues. Coming back from warm weather to the snow is always tough to do, but we are lucky enough to still be able to use the dome and facilities that other MIAC programs don’t have access to,” senior pitcher Casey Trapp said via email. “Every team will have scheduling issues due to the weather, so we just need to bear through it. We are excited to get on our field as soon as we can, even if that means breaking out a few shovels.”