Rumble In The Garden: All Posts by Tim Dimas

DJ Kennedy leads Vipers to NBDL Finals

2013-04-25T20:10:50Z

D.J. Kennedy started the 2012-13 D-League season in the same spot as last year, as a member of the Erie Bayhawks, the New York Knicks affiliate.

He'll end the season with a different team, and is close enough to smell a championship this weekend as the Rio Grande Vipers face the Santa Cruz Warriors in a best-of-three championship series for the NBA Developmental League crown starting tonight at 9:30 PM Eastern Time (and shown on the CBS Sports Network).

D.J. Kennedy has taken a winding road to becoming arguably the best player in tonight's championship game. Kennedy got his call to the NBA last year with the Cleveland Cavaliers, appearing in 2 games. He was then traded during the offseason to the Memphis Grizzlies before being waived and ending up back with the Bayhawks, but unaffiliated with an NBA team.

Kennedy got off to a red-hot start this season for the Erie Bayhawks team, averaging 19 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in the first 35 games.

He was selected to the D-League All-Star game and his name surfaced on the Top 10 Prospect Watch - covering players who are closest to being called up to an NBA team - on a regular basis.

In March, Kennedy was traded, leaving the Bayhawks once again. This time, it wasn't for an NBA team, but to another D-League team - the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Houston Rockets affiliate.

Kennedy would see his role diminish in his 14 regular season games with the Vipers, only starting 4 of the 14 games averaging 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

Though his role was cut down, Kennedy maintained his game and helped the Vipers reach the playoffs where Kennedy has started all four games. In the four games, he has shown why he is a star, at least on the D-League level.

The Vipers faced the Maine Red Claws in the first round, winning the best-of-3 series, 2-0. Kennedy averaged 19 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

In the second round, Kennedy and company faced the Tulsa 66ers sweeping the best-of-3 series again. Kennedy averaged 23.5 points, 9 rebounds and 6.5 assists.

Kennedy notched a triple-double in the series-clinching win with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 10 rebounds.

Kennedy's play hasn't gone unnoticed by his coach Nick Nurse, who spoke highly of Kennedy's playing during the playoffs.

"D.J. is a really, really good player, man," Nurse said. "The thing I say about him is that he does every single facet of the game way above average. I’m not sure he’s great at anything, but in every phase — defense, rebounding, ball handing, passing, shooting, driving — he’s good."

Kennedy is relaxed and enjoying the moment. Kennedy told Ridiculous Upside, back when he was with the Bayhawks, that carrying the team and winning would help turn the heads of NBA execs.

Now with the Vipers, Kennedy has the chance to turn heads and win a championship.

"I’m excited to be honest with you," Kennedy told The Monitor. "I know a lot of people are probably not. They want to get to the next level. I think this is a great team. This is just a great achievement for me just to be able to show people that we are able to win and compete for a D-League championship. I’m honored to be doing that."

The Vipers will face the Santa Cruz Warriors in Game 1 Thursday night.

If Kennedy can continue his all-around do-it-all DJ mentality, the Vipers could be hoisting the D-League title by Monday night. And just maybe a few more NBA executives will see just how above-average Kennedy is in all facets of the game.

Baseball Update: St. John's up-and-down season continues

2013-03-27T16:01:03Z

The first 22 games of the baseball season have been a testing experience for the St. John's Baseball team.

After losing 11 of their first 14 games on the road, the Red Storm came home for their first home stand of the year, and won four-straight against FDU, Holy Cross (2 games), and LIU Brooklyn before facing Pittsburgh for the team's first Big East series matchup.

Despite the Red Storm's roll, Pittsburgh swept the series, 3-0 and outscored St. John's 37-13.

St. John's took on Stony Brook at Citi Field on Tuesday, sporting new pinstripe uniforms and looking to restart their winning ways.

The Red Storm took a 1-0 after the first inning after a wild pitch brought home Martin Kelly who had doubled in his at-bat, which was followed by a Frank Schwindel single.

The game would continue 1-0 with neither team getting anything going offensively... until the fifth inning when Stony Brook drove in their first run of the game thanks to Austin Shives triple that brought in Michael Roehrig.

Once again, there would be a massive offensive slump from both teams that would continue all the way until the 12th inning where St. John's seemly pounded down a couple Red Bulls and found the energy to start driving in some runs -- a lot of them.

The Red Storm's first three batters got on base, Bret Dennis (walk), Pat Talbut (single), and Zach Lauricella (walk) before Martin was hit by a pitch which drove in the go-ahead run in Dennis. Schwindel delivered the dagger with a base-clearing double giving St. John's 5-1 lead.

Sean O'Hare followed with a double of his own, bringing Schwindel home from second to make it a 6-1 lead.

After a wild pitch, that moved O'Hare to third, and a Danny Bethea ground out, Kyle Lombardo doubled down the left field line, scoring O'Hare and giving the final score of 7-1.

Stony Brook went down without a fight in the bottom of the 12th inning, securing the win for the Red Storm.

Next up for St. John's is Cincinnati Thursday, and a double-header Saturday.

The Bearcats hold a similar record as St. John's, 8-13 and are 0-6 on the road which is a great thing for St. John's who are looking to make up their three losses in the Big East to the Panthers.

Projected Starting Lineup for Cincinnati

Forrest Perron (2B): .225 average, 12 R, 9 RBI
Matt Williams (RF): .216 average, 6 R, 5 RBI
Justin Glass (LF): .349 average, 17 R, 2 HR, 18 RBI
Devin Wenzel (3B): .293 average, 15 R, 3 HR, 15 RBI
Brendon Neel (DH): 274 average, 10 R, 1 HR, 11 RBI
Ian Happ (1B): .297 average, 16 R, 1 HR, 9 RBI
Taylor Schmidt (CF): .143 average, 3 R, 4 RBI
Woody Wallace (C): .308 average, 8 R, 1 HR, 11 RBI

The 3-4-5 for Cincinnati will be a real test for the young pitching staff of St. John's. Glass, Wenzel and Neel combine for six home runs and 44 RBI's.

The pitching staff combines for a 4.62 ERA with Connor Walsh (27.2 IP, 1 W, 22 K's, 3.58 ERA) and Christian McElroy (23.2 IP, 2 W, 3 L, 19 K's, 5.32 ERA) carrying the load.

Junior Frank Schwindel will be a huge factor for St. John's moving on this season. In 22 games, all starts, Schwindel is hitting .385 with two home runs and 26 RBI.

Martin Kelly has also been through the first part of the season batting .321 with 15 runs scored and 11 RBI.

St. John's has shown they can capitalize against similar, or weaker, opponents so they must do the same against the Bearcats if they don't want to start conference play the way they started the season -- downhill.

The one that got away: Ron Roberts

2013-03-18T21:36:35Z

In November of 2009, then a senior at St. Peter's Prep in New Jersey, Ron Roberts committed his future to Norm Roberts and the St. John's Red Storm. However, Roberts didn't know was that his commitment would be short lived.

As he finished his senior year, Norm Roberts was fired and Steve Lavin was brought in. Lavin, known for his love of athletic-wing players, didn't have any scholarships to offer besides that of Roberts, so the two met and Roberts was let go of his letter of intent in April of 2010.

Dwayne Polee received the scholarship, a raw dynamic wing who fit Lavin's plans and national focus. But the talented wing player and his family were concerned about his role, and he had a sick mother.... we know how that worked out.

On the other hand, Roberts, who had once said he was modeling himself after Rudy Gay and was advertised as a combo forward, is mostly a paint presence these days.

He is a strong presence for Martelli's Hawks. Now a junior and standing 6'8", 220 pounds, Roberts is averaging career-highs in points (11) and rebounds (8), leading the Hawks to a 18-13 record in the A-10 and a 4-seed in the NIT.

The forward has been a monster on the inside for St. Joe's and has ended up on ESPN's Top 10 plays on numerous occasions with emphatic dunks.

His best game this season was against then-No. 20 Notre Dame when Roberts scored 21 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a winning effort.

For St. John's, Roberts could have been an important senior role player on such a young squad, but now he will be imposing his will against a lanky 200 pound JaKarr Sampson.

St. John's, as of the last three years, has become a very flexible, versatile, athletic team that struggles on the boards against opposing teams and have shown they can get beat up on the offensive glass.

But Roberts big frame and low post moves won't be the only thing the Red Storm have to worry about. Another player to watch will be C.J. Aiken at the center position. Aiken is an inch shorter taller than Chris Obekpa but weighs 20 pounds less. Aiken is averaging 10.6 points per game to go along with 5.5 rebounds.

The guard play will be interesting to watch, as well.

Carl Jones and Langston Galloway are 1-2 in the scoring, combining for 28.2 points per game. Both shoot the ball over 40% and are making 35+% of their 3-point attempts. Phil Greene IV and Jamal Branch, the presumable starters for the Red Storm backcourt, are averaging 16 points combined and their shooting numbers are far from favorable.

How will Lavin try to match up against a strong St. Joseph's side?

Dwight Hardy back in Lega Due (Italy)

2013-03-15T14:42:39Z

Dwight Hardy's passport might be as tatted up as his body with all his travels during this past year of European basketball, as he joins his third Italian club since graduating from St. John's.

After having complications to start this season with Sidigas Avellino (Serie A) due to his passport, Hardy finally played ... but soon left. Hardy played just six games with the club averaging 7.8 points on 50% shooting before leaving. It would have been his second season in Italy; he started his post-college career with Giorgo Tesi PT of Italy's Lega Due (second league).

Hardy traveled to Turkey and begun practicing with Hacettepe University in Turkey's first league of basketball but never actually saw the court or was added to the teams roster. Hardy was with the team since January 23.

Now, the former St. John's scoring star is headed back to Italy, where his European career started, in Lega Due with a new team, Sigma Barcellona.

Sigma is currently 14-6, a game back of 1st place Giorgo.

Hardy played 41 games for Giorgo, averaging 22.2 points, second best in the league, to go along with 3.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.9 steals. He was awarded Rookie of the Year Honors as well as Most Valuable Player of Lega Due which propelled his jump to Serie A, first division of Italian Basketball, with Sidigas.

Hardy missed nearly two months because the Italian League committee couldn't figure out why he had two passports, one placing him as an American native and one as a Congo native. The issue was fixed, but it was detrimental to Hardy's game as he could never get off the bench for the team.

Hardy now has a chance to revive his young career but he has definitely taken two-steps backwards from his giant leap last year.

After last season, Hardy got a chance in NBA's Summer League with the World Champion Miami Heat but he didn't get a chance to shine due to a lingering ankle issue he got during the playoffs.

Hardy will join another former St. John's guard, Anthony Mason Jr. who is currently on Upea Capo d'Orlando's roster and playing terrific as of late.

Mason Jr. is averaging 11.6 points and 5.8 rebounds for the team but did not play in their last game. In the eight games he's been featured, team is 5-3 including wins over Hardy's new club, and league leading Giorgo.

His best game came against Biancoblu Basket Bologna, in which he dropped 33 points and grabbed 11 board.

Hardy will now look to duplicate Mason's star performances for his own club as he gets set to play his first game, hopefully, Monday, March 17 against Aget Service Imola.

Hardy will run the backcourt, presumably, with former Florida Gator guard, Taurean Green.

St. John's baseball wins first series of the season, will play Fairleigh Dickinson for home opener

2013-03-12T16:45:56Z

It has been a tough few weeks for St. John's baseball who were 1-10 in their first 11 games losing five straight games.

The team got swept in the Snowbird Baseball Classic, before losing three straight series leading up to their last road opponent before returning home for their first home stand of the season.

This past weekend, the Red Storm grabbed some important wins to help ease their start, against Radford winning two of three games against the Highlanders.

Game 1: St. John's 4 - Radford 3

St. John's junior James Lomangino totaled 10 strikeouts in six innings of work but it still took late game heroics to seal the deal for the Red Storm.

Down 3-2 in the top of the ninth, Danny Bethea walked with two-outs before Ty Blankmeyer pinch-ran for Bethea, later stealing second base. Bret Dennis followed with a walk of his own before Jimmy Brennan singled up the middle driving in Blankmeyer to tie the game at 3-3.

Dustin Breshears singled to third, loading up the bases for Martin Kelly. Kelly proceeded to get walked scoring Blankmeyer from third to give St. John's a 4-3 lead. Thomas Hackimer came in for Ryan Horstman to close out the game.

Game 2: St. John's 4 - Radford 5

The Red Storm surrendered five runs in the second that they wouldn't be able to make up even though they made a strong push.

Senior Sean Hagan continues his woeful start, going seven innings while giving up seven hits, five runs and striking out two.

St. John's offense only managed four hits leaving seven men on base against a pitching rotation of Radford's who's ERA is over 6.00.

Brennan continues his strong hitting after being benched in East Carolina, going 2-for-3 with an RBI giving him three-straight games with at least one RBI. In the stretch, Brennan is batting .333 with three RBI.

Game 3: St. John's 12 - Radford 9

St. John's finally showed offensive production, smacking Radford for a season-high 15 hits. Kelly Martin, starting in the three hole instead of lead-off man like he has for most of the season, went 3-for-5 with three RBI. Frank Schwindel added three RBI as well while Sean O'Hare hit a two-run home run.

Freshman Ryan McCormick had a decent outing going five innings, giving up five hits and four earned runs.

Nonetheless, St. John's mustered two wins, bringing their record to 3-11 on the season.

St. John's now begins their first home stretch of the season.

The Red Storm were to face the Hofstra Pride to start the stand but due to rainy weather, the game has been postponedm until April

St. John's will instead face Fairleigh Dickinson Wednesday at 3 p.m. After that they will play a three-game series against Holy Cross.

FDU Projected Lineup:

1. Jordan Ritz (LF) : .160 avg, 2 R, 1 RBI
2. Riley Moonan (CF) : .269 avg, 7 R, 2 3B
3. Kyle Weeks (2B) : .500 avg, 4 R, 3 RBI
4. Eric Anderson (1B) : .318 avg, 1 R, 8 RBI
5. Shane Siebler (RF) : .292 avg, 3 R, 3 RBI
6. Joel Roman (3B) : .143 avg, 1 2B, 4 RBI
7. Ryan Brennan (DH): .235 avg, 3 R, 1 2B
8. John Giakas (C): .313 avg, 2 R, 3 RBI
9. Dylan Spargue (SS) : .200 avg, 1 R, 1 RBI

St. John's once again will be facing a team with woeful pitching as FDU's era is totaled at 8.69 on the season.

Their opponents are hitting .318 against them this season so that will be a joy for St. John's batters looking to get their bats going.

As for the Red Storm pitching staff, they will be facing a team whose batting average is at .272 which isn't terrible, but it is manageable for the young freshman trying to build confidence moving forward.

The Red Storm got their foot headed into the right direction against Radford, hopefully the team can continue to do so against a more lighter schedule than that of which they faced to start the season.

This week in Baseball: St. John's Baseball gets swept, easier games coming

2013-03-06T15:53:43Z

It's fair to say at the start of the 2013 season St. John's (1-10) have yet to play the baseball they played last season in their NCAA Tournament run.

The team looked to jump start themselves against No. 1 North Carolina on Thursday after losing two of three against No. 20 Georgia Tech - it didn't go the way they would have liked.

In the one-game series, the Tar Heels toppled the Red Storm 18-5, cracking the game open in the bottom of the second-inning with a nine-run parade.

St. John's used three pitchers in the second. Freshman Alex Katz started the game. He was solid in the first, but scuffled in the second, only going 1.1 innings giving up four earned runs before being pulled. Freshman Anthony Rosati came in to relieve Katz... but ended up giving four earned runs as well in 0.1 innings of work. He was pulled for yet another freshman, Matt Clancy who surrendered one run before getting out of the inning.

North Carolina exploded for seven runs in the sixth-inning to put the game away and take a 18-2 lead. St. John's added three runs in the top of the seventh but that wouldn't be enough to start a the monumental rally needed to tie the game against the top-ranked Tar Heels.

Martin Kelly continued his strong campaign going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, raising his average to .421 on the season.

St. John's headed to East Carolina University for a three-game series where they would be swept easily by ECU.

In game one, the ECU Pirates won 6-3 scoring four of their six runs in the first three innings. St. John's, meanwhile, left 10-men stranded which ended up being the story of the game. Junior James Lomangino got roughed up for eight hits and allowed all the runs scored.

The one bright spot for the Red Storm was red shirt freshman Ryan Horstman, who came in relief of Lomangino, three 3.1 scoreless innings, striking out four Pirate batters.

In game two, ECU exploded for a five-run sixth inning after St. John's starter, senior Sean Hagan, was the latest of the Red Storm pitchers to be banged up by hot opposing team bats.

Martin Kelly collected three hits in four at-bats to lead St. John's batting once again. But the team left five-men stranded as they fell 8-1.

In game three was more of the same. ECU scored five runs in a big second-inning to put a gap between them and St. John's. St. John's was held to just four hits and three RBI.

Freshman Ryan McCormick took the loss for the Red Storm after going 4.2 innings and giving up five earned runs.

Kelly went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Senior Jimmy Brennan pinched hit going 1-for-2 to add another RBI for the Red Storm but again, the Storm would be no match for ECU.

St. John's has a five day layoff before continuing their down South tour this time against Radford University, in Virginia.

Projected starting lineup for the Highlanders (5-5):

Josh Gardiner (2B): .289 avg 7 R 3 RBI
Alexander Lee (1B): .241 avg 3 R 2 RBI
Jeff Kemp (SS): .344 avg 4 HR 11 RBI
Ryan Burgess (DH): .280 avg 1 HR 7 RBI
Patrick Marshall (LF): .200 avg 2 R 1 RBI
Hunter Higgerson (3B): .143 avg 3 R 1 RBI
Josh Reavis (C): .250 5 R 4 RBI
Chris Coia (CF): .364 avg 7 R 2 RBI
Blake Sipe (RF): .143 avg 2 R

The Highlanders will be one of the teams St. John's can look to start their hot-streak against. Only two batters hit over .300 while five of their batters are batting under/exactly .250. The young pitching will be tested, but against easier, unranked competition.

Radford plays James Madison this week, and is coming off of a three-game sweep at the hands of Rider.

RU's team ERA of 6.38 against softer competition is close to St. John's 7.07 ERA; all the signs of a competitive and possibly favorable series for the Red Storm is there.

It will all depend on how the young pitchers (and hitters) do for St. John's moving forward.

Game one is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start on Friday, March 8th. After the Radford series, the Johnnies come home to play regional competition.

Red Storm baseball falls to 1-6, #1 North Carolina next

2013-02-26T17:28:10Z

After starting the season 0-4, St. John's looked to bounce back in their three-game set against ranked ACC foe Georgia Tech.

It became an offensive affair this past weekend between St. John's (1-6) and No. 20 Georgia Tech (6-1). But the Red Storm were unable to keep their bats at pace with the hot Yellow Jackets, getting outscored 20-12 in their three-game series.

In game one, both teams connected for seven total hits with Georgia Tech coming away with a 3-2 walk-off winner.

Georgia Tech's Mott Hyde hit a ground ball to Red Storm short stop Dustin Breshears, who was unable to make a clean throw to 1st base, resulting in Hyde advancing to 2nd base. A bunt moved Hyde over to 3rd base and then came home thanks to a Dylan Dore single up the right field line.

Game two featured a more offensive game with St. John's winning 9-7. Frank Schwindel kicked things off in the fourth inning with a three-run home run but the lead wouldn't last long as the Yellow Jackets scored three runs in the bottom of the frame.

In the fifth, the Red Storm would retake the lead 4-3 on a Martin Kelly two-out RBI double.

St. John's would hold a one run lead heading into the top of the seventh inning before Bret Dennis hit a base-clearing three-run double to give the Red Storm a 7-3 lead.

In the 9th, St. John's would add some very important insurance runs thanks to Kelly who drove in two-runs. Georgia Tech added four runs in the bottom of the ninth but that was all they could muster up before the Red Storm finally closed up the game, getting their first win of the season.

Game three, however, featured an onslaught by Georgia Tech who seemed not to have taken the loss the night before so lightly.

The Yellow Jackets scored 10 runs on 11 hits and used a five-run fifth inning to put the game out of reach. 10-1 was the final score, one bad inning making the difference.

Schwindel and Martin were the big time players for St. John's in their three game set, combining for seven hits in 22 at-bats with a home run and seven RBI.

Through seven games, St. John's has stuck to a three-man rotation with red shirted junior James Lomangino (0-1, 1.50 ERA), freshman Ryan McCormick (0-1, 2.70 ERA) and senior Sean Hagan (1-1, 4.97 ERA) all making two starts and red shirted freshman Ryan Hortsman (0-2, 9.00 ERA) making a starting appearance after appearing in a relief stint.

The Red Storm suffered a massive loss in pitching rotation to last years draft with Kyle Hansen and Matt Carasiti both being drafted to the majors.

Their offense doesn't have the Joe Panik of 2011, or the Jeremy Baltz of 2012 that can provide automatic offense in a lineup that features an upperclassmen-led team with two sophomores. Dustin Breshears, a junior college transfer from Belleuve College (2012 stats: .371 average, home run, 25 RBI), and Bret Dennis have been the only consistent underclassmen in the lineup.

As a team, St. John's is batting .196 with one home run and 17 RBI's. Their opponents are batting .270 with seven home runs and 45 RBI's.

As for the pitching, the Red Storm are posting a 5.55 ERA compared to their opponents 2.70 ERA.

The teams bullpen does consist of five true freshman and two red shirt freshman who have all been featured in relief stints. The youth and inexperience will play a major part of the Red Storm's season this year.

Next for St. John's: #1 North Carolina

Moving forward, St. John's was scheduled to face North Carolina Tuesday in a one-game series but due to the threat of heavy rain, according to the teams official Twitter page, the game was moved to Wednesday.

North Carolina will be St. John's second straight ranked opponent as they are the No. 1 team in the nation, according to Baseball America rankings.

Projected starting lineup for the Tar Heels:

1. Chaz Frank - CF - .250 avg 7 R 7 RBI
2. Michael Russel - SS - .200 avg 5 R 7 RBI
3. Colin Moran - 3B - .292 avg 10 R 6 RBI
4. Cody Stubbs - 1B - .350 avg 4 R 6 RBI
5. Landon Lassiter - 2B - .467 avg 4 R 4 RBI
6. Parks Jordan - DH - .389 avg 5 R 3 RBI
7. Skye Bolt - RF - .545 avg 4 R 7 RBI
8. Brian Holberton - LF - .231 6 R 3 RBI
9. Matt Roberts - C - .083 2 R 2 RBI
10. (PITCHER)

St. John's defeated North Carolina 9-5 last year during their NCAA Tournament run in the Tuscon Regional Final.

Game time is slated for 3 p.m. EST start.

After Wednesday's game, the Red Storm will have three days off before heading to face East Carolina in a three-game series - looking to possibly end this week 5-6.

Read more St. John's baseball | Follow RumbleSBN on Twitter

This week in Baseball: on the heels of a tough start in Florida, a ranked Georgia Tech on tap

2013-02-21T18:44:14Z

St. John's baseball - Big East Tournament and regular season champions last season - headed down to warmer Sarasota, Florida last weekend in hopes of kick starting their season in the right direction against three very good teams.

But the Red Storm came away with a disappointing weekend against two Atlantic Sun foes and a Big Ten squad, going went 0-4 in their four-game weekend as part of the Snowbird Baseball Classic.

In their first game against Florida Gulf Coast, the team managed only three hits and stranded six men on base leading to their 6-0 defeat to the Eagles.

In the second game, St. John's bats came alive to drive in five runs. But they were no match for the hot-hitting Mercer Bears team that shredded the ball for four home runs in route to their 13-5 win over the Red Storm.

Game three against Ohio State, was the first of the double-header for St. John's. The game featured freshman pitcher Ryan McCormick hurling 6 innings of shutout baseball before the bullpen surrendered three runs - one in the seventh and two in the eighth. McCormick struck out four Buckeye batters and gave up only two hits, but that wasn't enough. Ohio State took the game 3-1.

St. John's wrapped up its double-header in a rematch from Friday's game against Florida Golf Coast. This time, the Red Storm managed 4 hits but that wasn't enough as the Red Storm were shutout once more 4-0 concluding their weekend play.

Sean O'Hare and Danny Bethea both collected four hits in 13 at-bats. Martin Kelly, Jimmy Brennan, Zach Lauricella and Frank Schwindel collected 3 hits in the four games.

Schwindel was the top RBI producer, finishing with three, but his average was well below of what is expected at .176 for the weekend.

McCormick had a stellar outing as did James Lomangino who went 6 innings, striking out 3 batters and giving up 1 earned run.

St. John's will continue their play in a three-game series this weekend at No. 20 Georgia Tech (4-0).

The Yellow Jackets have been impressive in their first four games. The ACC team is outhitting their opponents 50-25, while also outscoring their opponents 34-11. Georgia Tech won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament last season and reached the NCAA regional, losing to 1-seed Florida. Pitcher Buck Farmer is the reigning National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Pitcher of the Week.

Projected Lineup versus St. John's:

---------------------------------------------------

(LF) Kyle Wren: .444 avg. (8-18) 5 R 2 RBI
(3B) Sam Dove: .353 avg. (6-17) 3 R 6 RBI
(CF) Brandon Thomas: .417 avg. (5-12) 4 R 2 RBI
(RF) Daniel Palks: .467 avg. (7-15) 1 HR 5 RBI
(C) Zane Evans: .125 avg. (2-16) 2 R 4 RBI
(1B) A.J. Murray: .538 avg. (7-13) 5 R 2 RBI
(SS) Mott Hyde: .200 avg. (3-15) 1 R 2 RBI
(2B) Matt Gonzalez*: .615 avg. (8-13) 1 HR 8 RBI
(P) Buck Farmer**: .000 avg (0-0)

*Freshman, 11th Rd. draft pick by Oakland A's in 2012.
** Projected Starter: 2013 stats - 8.0 IP 4 H 14 SO

The first game of the 3-game series is Friday at 4 p.m. You can catch all the action on ESPN3.

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