COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - After winning game one of the series, the Hamline baseball team (14-26) would see Saint John's (29-11) pull away with two victories to win the series and advance to the MIAC Playoff Tournament. The Pipers won game one 2-1 on Saturday morning, but would fall 18-7 and 12-2 on Sunday night.
 
GAME 1: SAINT JOHN'S 18, HAMLINE 7 (7 INNINGS)
In game one the Saint John's offense shined with 18 hits, also taking advantage of three Piper errors on their way to an 18-7 seven-winning win. Hamline had nine hits of their own, with Zack Langton, Tyler Johnson, and Owen Christenson each tallying two hits apiece. Johnson drove in four of the team's seven runs, hitting a three-run homer in the third and driving in another run on a single in the seventh.
 
SJU jumped to an early 3-0 lead, holding the Pipers in the top of the first (despite having two runners on), and would use four hits to grab their three runs. A two-run homer for the Johnnies in the second would make it 5-0, but HU answered with Johnson's homer in the third, cutting their lead to two. Mac Enlow and Langton had singled earlier in the inning and would score on the home run.
 
The Johnnies offense didn't let up, however, as they scored three runs of their own in the bottom of the third to make it 8-3. Three more runs, two of which were unearned, would cross in the fourth, as SJU pulled ahead 11-3. A triple and a sacrifice fly scored an additional run for Saint John's in the fifth, as they led 12-3.
 
Six hits and a walk led to six more runs, making it 18-3 heading into the top of the seventh. The Pipers needed six runs to keep the game going, but could only come up with four, leaving the final at 18-7. Offensive highlights from the seventh for HU included an RBI single from Johnson that scored Cullen Buck, a bases loaded walk from Braeden Bourne, and a single for Max Gerstner that would score both Christenson and Johnson.
 
Six different Hamline pitchers made an appearance in the first game, with junior Will Tzavaras taking the loss, giving up three runs in the first inning.
 
GAME 2:  SAINT JOHN'S 12, HAMLINE 2 (8 INNINGS)
The second game of the doubleheader and third of the series was close through the first five innings. Hamline held a 2-1 lead after the top of the fifth inning and the Johnnies tied it in the bottom of the inning, but SJU would score 10 runs between the final three innings to secure the win.
 
The top of the lineup carried much of the offensive load in the game, as Buck, Enlow, and Langton (batting 1, 2, 3) combined for all five of the team's hits. Enlow and Buck each drove in a run and Enlow and Langton had two hits each.
 
Neither team was able to score in the first two innings, but Saint John's broke through in the third, as a batter that was hit by a pitch came around to score.
 
The Pipers were able to score two in the fifth, as singles from Buck and Enlow scored Gavin Renwick and Stephen Schmidt. They wouldn't get to keep the lead long, however, as SJU retaliated in the bottom of the inning, once again getting a leadoff walk home, tying the game at two all.
 
After the fifth, the Saint John's offense took over. In the sixth, they scored three runs on three hits and a walk. Five more runs would score in the seventh, as SJU rallied with six hits and a walk to make it 10-2. The Johnnies scored the two additional runs they needed to end the game early in the eighth, coming away with the 12-2 win.
 
Sophomore Braden Schneider started on the mound for Hamline, pitching the first 5.1 innings. He gave up five runs on five hits and four walks while striking out five. He would take the loss. Gerstner, Elijah Erickson, Hayden Ring, and Jonah Smallfield all pitched innings in relief for the Pipers.