St. John’s Baseball week in review: gateway to victory

Now three games over the .500 mark on the season with Big East play coming this weekend, St. John’s looks to be hitting their stride on the diamond. St. John’s baseball is now 12-10 and 2-1 over the last week, even after a tough loss at Fairfield. The team was dominant on the road at St. Louis, and pitcher Joe LaSorsa won a spot on the Big East’s weekly Honor Roll.

St. John’s vs. Fairfield

March 27^th: St. John’s 3, Fairfield 4 | WP: Grabek (2-0) LP: Hollowell (1-2)

After nearly two weeks of home games, the Red Storm traveled north to Fairfield and played strong baseball in a loss.

Freshman Ian Murphy started the game for the Storm, pitching three innings and giving up his only ER off of a HR by the Stags’ Tim Zeng in the 3^rd inning.

Meanwhile, St. John’s got off to a hot start, putting up three runs in the 2^nd and 3^rd innings.

CF Sean McGeehan led the offense with a big day at the plate. McGeehan went 4-5 from the plate, with all four hits being singles. The rest of the team did their fair share of work in the 12 hit effort put up by the Storm. It would not be enough.

The bullpen came in, with five pitchers keeping the Stags scoreless through the 8^th inning giving up no runs.

Reliever Gavin Hollowell stepped into the game with a 3-1 lead, but had the bases loaded almost immediately. A Fairfield double tied the game up with no outs. A hit batsman with the bases loaded walked in the winning run with only one out in the inning.

Fairfield managed 10 hits —including a home run in the third inning, as well as the rally in the bottom of the 9^th inning to set up the winning walk. Defensively, the Stags gave up only one error, and other than two frames where they surrendered runs, they played on par with St. John’s. Fairfield’s six pitchers gave up only two earned runs, and struck out seven Johnnies.

March 29^th-31^st Series at St. Louis University

The Red Storm traveled to the “Gateway to the West”, St. Louis. The series against the St. Louis Billikens saw decisive wins for St. John’s in Games 1 and 3 while Game 2 was cancelled due to rain.

Game 1: St. John’s 6, St. Louis 2 | WP: LaSorsa (3-2) LP: Lehmann (2-3) S: Kelley (1)

Game 1 was a team effort for the Red Storm. Four players recorded two hits and three others also recorded a hit. The six runs came scattered from the 3^rd inning to the 9^th.

There was no clear standout in the game other than the whole team. The team struck out five times and drew three walks, one of the best K:BB ratio they have posted all season.

Big East Honor Roll recipient Joe LaSorsa pitched 7 innings, with no earned runs allowed while striking out a career-high eight Billikens (with one walk) in a stellar show of command. LaSorsa’s dominance on the mound extended his scoreless streak to 20 innings.

St. Louis had no answers to keep pace with St. John’s after the 7^th inning. The Billikens had only four hits, and could not capitalize on three Red Storm errors.

Game 2: St. John’s 16, St. Louis 3 | WP: Hollowell (2-2) LP: Luther (3-2)

Game 2 of the series was one-sided from the start to the end, a game that showed little mercy to the Billikens.

The Johnnies 16 runs came on 16 hits, five walks, and two hit batters.

Every one of St. John’s starters on offense managed to record a hit.

Catcher Wyatt Mascarella got a walk on top of his team leading 3 hits.

Before the 8^th inning, the Johnnies offense already enjoyed a cushion, leading 7-3. The top of the 8^th inning saw the Johnnies bat around and score nine runs.

Pitcher Sean Mooney got the nod for St. John’s, and pitched for four and a third innings surrendering an earned run. Mooney struggled controlling his pitches as he walked four. But the bullpen came in and replaced Mooney with style; Gavin Hollowell struck out five in his 2.2 innings of work which earned him the win for the day.

On the mound, the Billikens struck out 14 and walked four, but conceded all 16 runs earned. Of the eight pitchers who threw for St. Louis, two failed to record an out and five gave up runs. St. Louis had nine hits and six walks, but left 11 runners on base.

The Johnnies’ loss at the beginning of the week may have fueled a bounce back in their weekend series; they ended up scoring over 20 runs in the 2 game series.

This week brings five games for St. John’s.

The week begins at home against St. Peter’s on Tuesday, April 3^rd followed by a home game against Columbia on the 4^th. The Red Storm will then travel to Indianapolis for a three-game series at Butler from the 6^th to the 8^th of April to start Big East play.