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It has been a tough few weeks for St. John's baseball who were 1-10 in their first 11 games losing five straight games.
The team got swept in the Snowbird Baseball Classic, before losing three straight series leading up to their last road opponent before returning home for their first home stand of the season.
This past weekend, the Red Storm grabbed some important wins to help ease their start, against Radford winning two of three games against the Highlanders.
Game 1: St. John's 4 - Radford 3
St. John's junior James Lomangino totaled 10 strikeouts in six innings of work but it still took late game heroics to seal the deal for the Red Storm.
Down 3-2 in the top of the ninth, Danny Bethea walked with two-outs before Ty Blankmeyer pinch-ran for Bethea, later stealing second base. Bret Dennis followed with a walk of his own before Jimmy Brennan singled up the middle driving in Blankmeyer to tie the game at 3-3.
Dustin Breshears singled to third, loading up the bases for Martin Kelly. Kelly proceeded to get walked scoring Blankmeyer from third to give St. John's a 4-3 lead. Thomas Hackimer came in for Ryan Horstman to close out the game.
Game 2: St. John's 4 - Radford 5
The Red Storm surrendered five runs in the second that they wouldn't be able to make up even though they made a strong push.
Senior Sean Hagan continues his woeful start, going seven innings while giving up seven hits, five runs and striking out two.
St. John's offense only managed four hits leaving seven men on base against a pitching rotation of Radford's who's ERA is over 6.00.
Brennan continues his strong hitting after being benched in East Carolina, going 2-for-3 with an RBI giving him three-straight games with at least one RBI. In the stretch, Brennan is batting .333 with three RBI.
Game 3: St. John's 12 - Radford 9
St. John's finally showed offensive production, smacking Radford for a season-high 15 hits. Kelly Martin, starting in the three hole instead of lead-off man like he has for most of the season, went 3-for-5 with three RBI. Frank Schwindel added three RBI as well while Sean O'Hare hit a two-run home run.
Freshman Ryan McCormick had a decent outing going five innings, giving up five hits and four earned runs.
Nonetheless, St. John's mustered two wins, bringing their record to 3-11 on the season.
St. John's now begins their first home stretch of the season.
The Red Storm were to face the Hofstra Pride to start the stand but due to rainy weather, the game has been postponedm until April
St. John's will instead face Fairleigh Dickinson Wednesday at 3 p.m. After that they will play a three-game series against Holy Cross.
FDU Projected Lineup:
1. Jordan Ritz (LF) : .160 avg, 2 R, 1 RBI
2. Riley Moonan (CF) : .269 avg, 7 R, 2 3B
3. Kyle Weeks (2B) : .500 avg, 4 R, 3 RBI
4. Eric Anderson (1B) : .318 avg, 1 R, 8 RBI
5. Shane Siebler (RF) : .292 avg, 3 R, 3 RBI
6. Joel Roman (3B) : .143 avg, 1 2B, 4 RBI
7. Ryan Brennan (DH): .235 avg, 3 R, 1 2B
8. John Giakas (C): .313 avg, 2 R, 3 RBI
9. Dylan Spargue (SS) : .200 avg, 1 R, 1 RBI
St. John's once again will be facing a team with woeful pitching as FDU's era is totaled at 8.69 on the season.
Their opponents are hitting .318 against them this season so that will be a joy for St. John's batters looking to get their bats going.
As for the Red Storm pitching staff, they will be facing a team whose batting average is at .272 which isn't terrible, but it is manageable for the young freshman trying to build confidence moving forward.
The Red Storm got their foot headed into the right direction against Radford, hopefully the team can continue to do so against a more lighter schedule than that of which they faced to start the season.