St. John's athletes in Lacrosse and Baseball earn Big East honors

As the school semester winds down, two teams at St. John's are focused on making runs into their respective postseasons.

St. John's Lacrosse

St. John's Lacrosse wrapped up its regular season at UPenn and lost 17-10. Although the season didn't go as well as planned, 7-7 (3-3 in Big East play), a quartet of student athletes received some awards from the conference.

For the second consecutive year, Kieran McArdle was named Big East Attack Player of the Year. The senior from Ronkonkoma, NY  was the leader in points per game (5.71), assists per game (2.86) and goals per game (2.86), ranking in the top-10 in the NCAA in all three categories. He also made his mark on the St. John's record book during this spring by becoming St. John’s all-time career leader in points, assists and goals.  "It's a great conference," he said, "with the caliber of players in it, [It's] and honor to win it."

Joining him with Big East recognition were junior defensemen Mark DiFrangia, senior attacker Kevin Cernuto, and senior midfielder Ryan Fitzgerald. They were all named to the all-conference second team.

"It’s great to see Ryan finally get recognized for his contributions here, as well as Mark at the other end of the field," head coach Jason Miller stated.

St. John's Baseball

On the baseball diamond, the Johnnies are in the middle of a very impressive streak. Winners of 10 of their last 12 and having a great home record of 19-1 at Jack Kaiser Stadium makes this a team to keep an eye on in the Big East.

Coach Ed Blankmeyer, in his 19th season at St. John's, has a young but hungry team. They are currently tied for second in the Big East with Xavier, sporting a 7-2 record in Big East play. After sweeping Georgetown this weekend, the conference named reliever Joe Kuzia and outfielder Zach Lauricella to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll.

Kuzia, the Big East leader in saves (8) continued his great late-inning performances by earning two saves this week, one at Boston College, and another against the Hoyas. Kuzia has still not allowed an earned run in 28.1 innings of work this year.

Lauricella had a week that he probably won't forget and will look to continue going into May. The junior from Buffalo batted .529 (9-for-17) with three multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games as part of a seven-RBI week.

Coming up for St. John's they host Iona on Wednesday and then a crucial three game set with Xavier.