St. John's University Athletics
SJU Baseball Drops Season Opener at Charleston, 2-1
2/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
St. Johns junior starting pitcher Marc Goldberg (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) took the loss, going 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits, while walking four and striking out three batters.
After retiring the first two batters in the bottom of the first inning, Goldberg issued back-to-back walks to Charleston designated hitter Matt Hallett and first baseman Greg Alden. Left fielder Jasha Balcom followed with a single to centerfield, scoring Hallett and giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
Goldberg, however, settled, and retired nine of the next 11 batters. In the bottom of the fifth, with Charleston still hanging on to a 1-0 lead, Golberg hit third baseman Mitch Miggenburg to lead off the inning. Justin Branson reached on a fielders choice, then stole second and scored on a single to left center by Brett Spivey.
Junior Greg Holmes (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) relieved Goldberg and threw two innings of scoreless relief.
Charleston starter Robby Milner kept the Red Storm in check through nearly six-plus innings, allowing only one hit in the first five innings. St. Johns had runners in scoring position in the second after senior first baseman Chris Fallon (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) hit a lead off double, and in the sixth, when junior centerfielder Charlie Bilezikjian (Staten Island, N.Y./Port Richmond) walked and stole second, but could not get runs across.
In the seventh, junior third baseman Jason Kane (Rutherford, N.J./St. Marys) hit a one-out single and moved to second when junior John-Paul Cirigliano (Flushing, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) walked. Charlie Wentzky relieved Milner and retired the final two batters to get out of the jam.
The Red Storm got on the board in the ninth when freshman Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J./Moorestown) hit an RBI single, scoring Eric Potts (Little Ferry, N.J./Ridgefield Park), who reached on a fielders choice and moved to third on an error.
Fallon went 2-for-3 for St. Johns, with a double and a single.
The teams play again on Sunday at 1 p.m. Sophomore Geno Orsogna (Norfolk, Mass./Bishop Feehan) will start for St. Johns.
