St. John's baseball set for Easter series with NYIT

One reason for the Red Storm's recent success on the diamond is timely hitting.

St. John's (20-14, 4-2) has collected 64 two-out RBI, which accounts for 37.2 percent of their 172 total this season. Matt Harris has 16 two-out RBI while Robert Wayman has 12. The Red Storm are also hitting .300 with runners in scoring position. The team will seek to repeat that success this weekend against the New York Institute of Technology.

St. John's enters their three-game series with NYIT coming off an 11-4 loss to Columbia on Wednesday. The Lions used consecutive four-run innings to doom the Red Storm. Things should come a little easier this weekend for St. John's.

NYIT is 1-29 and has lost 15 straight games since recording a 10-6 win against LIU-Brooklyn. The Bears are 0-9 at home, which is where this three-game set with St. John's will begin. The series shifts to Jack Kaiser Stadium Saturday for a doubleheader.

As their record suggests, NYIT has done little of note this season and the numbers support that assessment.

The Bears are hitting .235 and scored just 3.1 runs per game. NYIT's pitching staff has a 8.44 ERA and opponents are hitting an astounding .334 in those games.

Joe Daru is one of two legit threats on the Bears. He is hitting .336 and leads the team in runs scored (14), RBI (15), and stolen bases (19). Nick Sebastian is hitting .272 with a team-high seven doubles and 10 RBI.

St. John's leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1972, at 42-11. The Red Storm have won five straight games in the series, including a doubleheader sweep last April.

While St. John's takes a short break from the Big East season, two players this past week were recognized for their efforts in last weekend's three-game sweep against Butler.

Alex Caruso and James Lomangino were both named to the Big East weekly honor roll.

Caruso batted .583 (7-for-12) with a pair of three-hit games. He finished Sunday's game a home run short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a walk a three runs scored. Caruso leads the conference with 26 walks.

Lomangino matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts in eight innings against Bulter in the series opener. He allowed a run on four hits in the 3-1 win.

St. John's will resume their Big East schedule next weekend at home against Georgetown. Before that, they meet Boston College halfway between New York City and Beantown at Thomas Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn.