Johnnies travel to Chicago suburb for national tournament

The Saint John’s University baseball team might be singing “Sweet Home Chicago” in the next few days.

The Johnnies qualified for their eighth NCAA Division III national tournament and are going to River Forest, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago - to take part in a four-team regional hosted by Concordia University of Chicago, the top-ranked team in Division III baseball.

The Johnnies, 32-12 overall and winners of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s Playoff Championship, face Baldwin Wallace (25-15) of Ohio in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament at 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 17. SJU is the No. 3 seed in the tournament and the Yellow Jackets are the No. 2 seed.

The other first-round game matches the Cougars (38-7) against No. 4 Buena Vista (25-17) at 10 a.m.

Game times on Saturday, May 18, are 8:30 a.m. (the elimination game), noon (the winner's bracket game) and 3:30 p.m. The four-team tournament continues with the championship round at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 19.

It’s the fourth time in the last eight seasons the Johnnies have qualified for the Division III national tournament.

The Johnnies defeated Gustavus Adolphus twice, 4-3 and 4-1, to win the MIAC Playoff championship on Saturday, May 11, at CHS Field in St. Paul to earn the MIAC’s automatic berth in the 58-team field.