St. John's University Athletics
SJU HANGS ON FOR FIRST WIN, BEATS CSU, 3-2
2/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
St. John's led 3-0 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Buccanneers loaded the bases after back-to-back singles and a walk. Junior Charlie Bilezikjian (Staten Island, N.Y./Port Richmond) came in from centerfield and induced two ground ball outs and struck out the final batter looking to pick up the save.
The Red Storm nearly wasted a tremendous performance from junior Marc Goldberg (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville), who went eight innings and allowed no runs on four hits while striking out nine batters to earn his first win of the season.
The Red Storm scored once in the third inning and twice in the sixth en route to the win.
In the sixth inning, senior first baseman Chris Fallon (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) hit a one-out single and, after a pitching change, sophomore Chad Cambra (Taunton, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) greeted Ryan Smith with a triple down the right field line. With two outs senior Eric Potts (Little Ferry, N.J./Ridgefield Park) walked, putting runners on the corners. The Red Storm attempted a double steal, but Cambra scored before Potts was tagged out in a rundown, increasing the margin to 3-0.
The Red Storm had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning when junior second baseman John Paul Cirigliano (Flushing, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) singled, stole second and moved to third on a fielder's choice. Junior right fielder Billy Grasier (Miller Place, N.Y./Jericho) followed with a slow ground ball to short, which be beat out for a single, scoring Cirigliano and giving St. John's a 1-0 lead.
Grasier finished the day batting 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and one RBI.
St. John's wraps up its Southern trip on Saturday, playing Charleston Southern again. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
