St. John's baseball: Home cookin' has Johnnies on a five-game winning streak

Now that St. John’s is back in New York and playing at Jack Kaiser Stadium, wins are coming in bunches.

St. John’s returned to Jamaica last week off of a three-game sweep at the hands of  Nebraska in Lincoln. The Red Storm suffered two blowout losses sandwiched around a walk-off loss after rallying to tie the game late against the Cornhuskers.

The losses were part of a 13-game road trip that saw them go 3-10.  But playing at home against Iona, Fairleigh Dickinson and Holy Cross cured the losing.

After single-game wins over Iona (7-2) and FDU (10-4) last week, the Red Storm swept Holy Cross over the weekend to extend their winning streak to five games in the confines of Queens' Jack Kaiser Stadium.

St. John’s completed the Holy Cross sweep Sunday with a 4-3 win as Bret Dennis’ RBI single in the eighth inning proved to be the game-winner as Chris Kalica (2-1) picked up the win with 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

Thomas Hackimer pitched a perfect ninth inning to record his fourth save of the season.

Dennis tied the game 3-3 in the sixth with a sacrifice fly. Michael Donadio and Jarred Mederos also recorded RBI in the first to give St. John’s a 2-1 lead.

Red Storm starter Nate Walker allowed two runs on five hits and three walks in five innings.

James Lomangino (1-3) earned his first win of the year in Game 1 of a doubleheader Saturday against Holy Cross. The former Oakland A’s draft pick allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Joe Kuzia and Hackimer secured the win as each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

St. John’s broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning when Donadio hit a single through the right side to score Robert Wayman from second base. Zach Lauricella hit s two-run triple in the sixth as part of a three-run inning.

The Red Storm won the nightcap 9-3.

Matt Harris helped break the game open in the sixth when he hit a three-run homer to give St. John’s an 8-2 lead as part of a five-run inning. Robert Wayman, who leads the team’s regulars with a .352 batting average, hit a two-out, two-run single before Harris’ big fly.

Ryan McCormick (2-1) secured the win. He allowed two runs on seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.

St. John’s will play Fairfield and LIU-Brooklyn at home this week before hosting James Madison for a three-game set next week. They don’t start the Big East portion of their schedule until April 4 with a three-game series against Villanova. The Fairfield game is tomorrow at 3:00 PM Eastern.