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MINNETONKA, Minn. – Saint John's sophomore outfielder Dylan Graves (Mora, Minn.) clobbered two home runs and senior ace Hayden Zimmerman (New Richmond, Wis.) pitched eight strong innings in a 7-3 win over Bethel in the first round of the MIAC Tournament on Friday, May 11, in Minnetonka.
The Johnnies (27-13, 14-6 MIAC) advance to face the fourth seed, Saint Mary's (22-18, 10-10 MIAC), which upset top-seeded and nationally-ranked (No. 2) St. Thomas 4-2 in 10 innings earlier in the day. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Veterans Field on the campus of Minnetonka High School.
Graves drove in the Johnnies' first four runs, a three-run shot in the first and a solo homer in the third, to give SJU an early 4-0 lead. The performance was his second multi-homer game of the season (April 7 vs. Concordia-Moorhead). He now has six home runs on the season and three in his last two games.
BU answered with a run on a wild pitch from Zimmerman in the top of the fourth before SJU answered with three more in the bottom half of the inning. Junior second baseman/closer Joey Long (Belvidere, Ill./Rockford Boylan), sophomore catcher Justin Thompson (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) and freshman outfielder Brett Becker (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) started the inning with a double each to plate two runs and junior first baseman/pitcher Connor Cline (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) brought in another with a sacrifice fly.
The Royals ended the scoring with a single run in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively.
Zimmerman improved to 7-2 on the season (2.03 ERA, .200 avg. in 71.0 IP), allowing three runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts in his 30th career start. In the process, he moved into second in SJU history in both career strikeouts (153) and innings pitched (200.2), and into a tie for third in wins (18). Zimmerman threw 148 pitches, 83 for strikes, on the night.
Long pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to seal the victory for SJU, its first in the MIAC Tournament's opening round in four previous appearances.
SJU tallied all seven runs and nine hits off David Freed, but were held without a hit in the final 4.2 innings by three different BU relievers.
The Johnnies were a perfect 4-for-4 with runners in scoring position, while the Royals were just 1-for-10 against Zimmerman.
Graves and freshman outfielder Aaron Pfaff (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) led the SJU bats with two hits apiece.
Bethel and St. Thomas meet in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Saturday. The winner of that game faces the loser between SJU and Saint Mary's at 6 p.m. Saturday night.
