St. John's sweep puts them in first-place tie with Creighton

The St. John's baseball team showed a little bit of everything this past weekend in Cincinnati against Xavier.

The Red Storm pitched well, got key hits when they needed them, outslugged the Musketeers when the opportunity presented itself, and didn't appear to panic when they fell behind. That all led to another Big East weekend sweep.

St. John's (30-15, 10-2) and Creighton now share first place in the division after the Blue Jays won two of three games from Seton Hall over the weekend in Omaha. The Red Storm host Creighton this weekend in Jamaica in a series that could very well decide the regular season conference champion.

The Red Storm scored early and often in Sunday's game, and then held on as Xavier rallied in the middle innings. St. John's eventually won 8-7 to complete the sweep.

Bret Dennis and Zach Lauricella each collected three RBI in the win. Alex Caruso went 4-for-5 while Robert Wayman had two RBI and two runs scored.

St. John's needed six pitchers to complete his game. Matt Clancy was the best of the bunch and earned the win with three scoreless innings as Xavier scattered just three hits against him. He finished with four strikeouts and two walks.

Joe Kuzia saved his second game of the weekend after he was summoned from the bullpen to record the final two outs. He leads the conference with 10 saves.

James Lomangino (5-4) started the Red Storm on the right path in Friday's 7-3 win. He finished with eight strikeouts in seven innings and allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits and two walks.

Thomas Hackimer relieved Lomangino in the eighth and pitched two scoreless innings to secure the win.

Michael Donadio hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to add some much needed insurance as St. John's clung to a 4-3 lead heading into the inning.

Bret Dennis stroked a two-run homer in the fifth to give St. John's a 4-1 lead.

St. John's used a three-run rally late in Saturday's game to win 3-2.

Donadio continued to gather key hits and stroked a two-run single in the eighth inning to tie the game 2-2. Dennis later scored on a balk as St. John's took the lead.

Joe Kuzia recorded the five-out save for his ninth of the season. Hackimer picked up the win in relief with a scoreless inning.

Chris Kalica started the game for the Red Storm and pitched well enough to win. He allowed two runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings with two strikeouts and two walks.

Next

St. John's plays Albany Tuesday before they begin the pivotal three-game set with Creighton at Jack Kaiser Stadium. The first two games of the series on Friday and Saturday will be broadcast on ESPN3. Sunday's game will be on Fox Sports 1 at 1 p.m.