A disappointing Red Storm baseball season comes to an end

This 2013 season did not shape up to be the same way as the sharp 2012 did for the Red Storm team.

St. John's finished the 2012 season with a 40-23 record, a BIG EAST Tournament title and an incredible run in postseason play, going all the way to the Super Regional before falling to Arizona.

After a 7-2 loss to Seton Hall to finally end this season, St. John's finished with a 23-35 record, the first losing record in head coach Ed Blankmeyer's 17-year career with the team.

The Red Storm started the season 0-5 before winning their first game then losing another five straight.

The team carried tons of freshmen on the roster - especially in the pitching staff, where two freshman were featured in the starting rotation, Ryan McCormick and Ryan Hortsman.

McCormick finished the season 3-6 with a 6.04 Earned Run Average, while Hortsman looked a lot better, going 6-6 with a 2.33 ERA.

Senior Sean Hagan had a down season going 4-7 with a 5.16 ERA. The team combined as a whole for a 4.70 ERA.

Offensively, the team didn't struggle as bad as the pitching rotation did. Collectively, St. John's batted .256; Frank Schwindel leading the team in batting average, .349. Schwindel also led the team in home runs (5) and RBI (53).

One of the biggest factors for the team were the base runners stranded. In their final game of the season against the Pirates, the Red Storm stranded 6 batters after taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the game. After the second inning, St. John's was held hitless, stuck on their total of three hits for the game.

Schwindel and Zach Lauricella had superb offensive seasons. Lauricella hit for a .320 average, four home runs, 40 RBI, had superb seasons, there wasn't much else to give St. John's what they needed to get over the hump throughout the games offensively. The young rotation and stranded baserunners led to inconsistent performances.

Though their were growing pains this season, St. John's will have a lot of seasoned youngsters on their team next year which means that with a year under their belt, the rising sophomores will be more prepared for the 2014 season.

Rumble will keep up to date on the incoming prospects for next season throughout the offseason.