St. John’s Baseball recap: winning streak grows to 7 after Hofstra, Marist wins

St. John’s baseball is rolling, on a seven-game streak after a 3-0 week — plus the Big East Honor Roll mention for outfielder Mike Antico.

The team scored 25 runs in the shortened week and only allowed 4, both season-bests thus far. Now 10-9, we look back at the game against Marist and a 2-game sweep of Hofstra, including a Sunday doubleheader.

March 19^th: St. John’s vs. Marist

St. John’s 7, Marist 3 | WP: Lara (2-0) LP: Candelario (0-2)

In the first game of the week, the Red Storm got off to a hot start by plating five runs in the first four innings and allowing only two from Marist.

The offense, led by 1B Ryan Hogan, who had two hits and a run scored, capitalized on three Marist errors by scoring five unearned runs. The Johnnies only managed six hits in the game.

Freshman Ian Murphy got the start for the Storm. He pitched only three innings, allowing one run, before he was pulled for eventual winning pitcher Sam Lara.

Lara scattered four hits and gave up one run in his inning of work, aligning him for the win. In total, St. John’s sent five pitchers to the mound; they struck out nine Marist batters and gave up four walks and three earned runs.

The Red Foxes collected eight hits and four walks and put up three runs for the game, but the bats weren’t quite hot enough to surmount the five runs conceded by the 3 defensive errors.

March 22^nd-24^th Series vs. Hofstra University

The Friday and Saturday games of the series were postponed by rain and low wind chill temperatures. One game was made up as the second game of a double header on Sunday after the regularly scheduled game. The other game was cancelled, with no make-up date.

Game 1: St. John’s 9, Hofstra 1 | WP: Mooney (2-0) LP: Rue (1-2)

The series opener saw the Red Storm continue their momentum from their win streak to dominate the visiting Hofstra. T

Five Red Storm players recorded multiple hits, led by LF Mike Antico who went 4-4 on the day with three RBI and two runs scored. Three others tallied on the hit total for the Storm to bring it up to 15 for the day.

The Red Storm pitching was lights out in the first game. Led by Sean Mooney, who pitched six innings with one earned run and seven strikeouts, the pitching stood out. The bullpen pitched another three innings, giving up two hits and striking out two.

Hofstra struggled throughout Game 1. Although they weren’t bitten by the error bug like Marist had been, they gave up four stolen bases and four extra base hits.

Game 2: St. John’s 9, Hofstra 0 | WP: LaSorsa (2-2) LP: James (0-4)

Game 2 was a lot of the same for both teams.

The Red Storm offense again tallied fifteen hits for the game, this time co-led by 3B Carson Bartels and CF Sean McGeehan, who each had three hits each. In addition to the hits, the duo combined for five runs scored and three RBI. The rest of the St. John’s offense did their fair share of work; only one starter failed to get on base.

Pitcher Joe LaSorsa pitched some of his best ball in his five innings on the mound. He allowed four hits and a walk, while striking out two on the evening. The bullpen finished the game strong. Jeff Belge and Gavin Hollowell, pitching three innings and one inning, respectively, gave up a walk each. Belge struck out eight of the 10 batters he faced.

The visitors brought five pitchers to the mound. Hofstra had two errors on the day; those errors yielded only two of the nine runs given up, but the Pride couldn’t seem to catch a break in Jack Kaiser Stadium.

The Johnnies, riding their seven game win streak, have brought their record up to 10-9. The Red Storm have not lost a game in New York State, going 7-0 so far.

This week brings up 4 away games for the Storm. Today, Wednesday March 27^th, the Red Storm will head up to Fairfield for one game [available online through Fairfield’s site] before a three game series against St. Louis University.