St. John's University Men's Baseball

Haugen (Hoh-gen) ended his 39th season as the Johnnies' baseball head coach in 2016 with a 762-623-5 (.550) career record, which places him in the top 25 on the NCAA Division III winningest active coaches win list. He earned his 700th career win at Macalester on April 22, 2014, and became the 19th active NCAA Division III coach to reach 600 wins and 31st all-time in Division III history against the Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) on March 2, 2010, in Arizona. On March 31, 2004, Haugen earned his 500th career victory with an 8-7 victory over Wis.-Superior, which made him the 20th active Division III coach with 500 career wins. The Johnnies have had 17 winning seasons in the last 22 years. The Johnnies set a school record for wins in 2016 with a 32-14 record (13-7 MIAC), including a 4-2 mark to finish runner-up at the NCAA Midwest Regional in La Crosse, Wis. SJU hosted the 2016 MIAC Tournament and posted a 3-0 record to earn its second consecutive MIAC Playoff Championship, and third in the last five seasons. The 1994 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Coach of the Year, Haugen guided the Johnnies to a conference championship season in 1994 and 1998 and advanced for only the second time in school history to the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Tournament in 1998. The Johnnies won their first MIAC Playoff Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in school history in 2012, and earned their second title in four years by accomplishing the feat in 2015. SJU capped a 4-0 run through the losers' bracket, as the visiting team in all four games, to become just the second team to lose its opener and win the title in the 16-year history of the MIAC Tournament in 2015.  Since 1978, Haugen has coached over 87 All-MIAC performers and in 1993, he saw team MVP Jon Dold become the first SJU player in over 30 years to be drafted at the professional level. He currently ranks as the "dean" of MIAC coaches with 38 seasons of conference play under his belt. A football and baseball player during his college years at SJU, Haugen also served as defensive coordinator for the 2003 NCAA champion Johnnie football team. Haugen was named 2003 NCAA Division III Defensive Coordinator of the Year by American Football Monthly. A 1976 graduate of Saint John's, Haugen has also worked as an assistant basketball coach and head hockey coach during his tenure at SJU. Jerry Haugen's Baseball Record at Saint John's, Since 1990 Jerry Haugen's Baseball Record at Saint John's, Since 1990

Scott Lieser is in his second season as the Johnnies' head baseball coach in the 2026-27 academic year. Lieser was named the Johnnies' head baseball coach on May 14, 2025, following seven seasons as an assistant coach. He replaced Jerry Haugen '76, who retired following 48 seasons with a 916-736-5 (.554) record. The Johnnies finished third in the MIAC with a 13-7 record (28-16 overall) and made their 16th-consecutive appearance in the MIAC Tournament (18th overall) under the direction of Lieser in 2026. SJU advanced to the MIAC Championship series where they fell to Macaleste rin the winner-takes-all third game. Freshman pitcher Max Edwards was named SJU's baseball's second-consecutive All-American and eighth overall. He became the first Johnnie pitcher to earn All-America honors as the primary starter. He was also named the D3baseball.com Region 9 Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year, and garnered first-team All-Region 9 distinction from both D3baseball.com and the ABCA. He was also the first student-athlete to earn MIAC Mike Augustin Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season. Lieser led the Johnnies boasted a 135-80 (69-31 MIAC) record and finished in the MIAC's top three in all six competitive seasons that he was on staff as an assistant (no postseason in 2020), including a MIAC playoff title and trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2019. Lieser was a standout right-handed pitcher for Division II St. Cloud State from 2010-13. He ended his career with a school-record 32 victories (32-7 record) in 66 appearances (269.2 Innings pitched), 226 strikeouts and a 3.10 ERA. Lieser competed on Husky squads that reached the NCAA Division II Central Regional each of his four years, and earned regional All-Tournament Team honors as a sophomore, junior and senior.  A two-year team captain, Lieser earned All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference honors twice and All-Central Region honors three times. He was named Daktronics Division II All-America honorable mention in 2013, when he went 10-3 with five complete games, 66 strikeouts to 11 walks and a 2.71 ERA in 83.0 innings. Following graduation, Lieser played professionally in the Milwaukee Brewers organization for three seasons (2013-15) and reached the high-A level. In 63 professional appearances, mostly as a reliever, Lieser posted a 4-5 record with two saves, 87 strikeouts to 14 walks and a 1.19 WHIP in 99 innings pitched. During his college years, he played summer baseball in the Northwoods League with Waterloo (2010) and Willmar (2011-12). Lieser first joined the Johnnies' baseball program as an assistant coach for the 2018-19 academic year before taking over as the activities director at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle High School from 2019-21. Lieser served as a volunteer assistant coach at SJU, in a minor capacity, those two seasons before returning to Collegeville full-time in the fall of 2021 as both a member of SJU's Institutional Advancement staff and as a baseball assistant. Prior to his stop at Augsburg as an assistant coach in 2017-18, Lieser coached travel baseball with the Minnesota Select U-13 squad and served as junior varsity coach at Centennial (Minn.) High School. He was also a pitching coach in the Northwoods League for two summers with St. Cloud (2018) and Willmar (2017).  A native of Browerville, Minn., Lieser played baseball, football and basketball for the Tigers, leading the baseball team to two state-tournament appearances and earning team Most Valuable Player honors twice. He was named a Minnesota Lions' All-Star following his senior season in 2009. Scott and his wife, Nora, reside in Freeport with their children,Vivian and Louis, and golden retriever, Wrigley. Nora is the associate athletic director at St. Cloud State.   Scott Lieser's Record at SJU Year Overall Pct. MIAC Finish Notes 2026 28-16 .636 13-7 Third MIAC Tournament Runners-Up  1 Season 28-16 .636 13-7    

Jason Spohn is in his 25th year of coaching at SJU in the 2026-27 academic year. He is a 1997 graduate of St. Cloud State University. Prior to attending SCSU, Spohn played baseball at Ridgewater and Itasca community colleges. Spohn coached at Rocori High School and for the Cold Spring Legion baseball team for three seasons.