St. John's University Athletics
SJU Baseball to Host Columbia Wednesday
3/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
After starting out the season 2-6, St. Johns has won four of its last six games. The Red Storm will play Columbia for the 25th time on Wednesday. SJU leads the head-to-head series, 18-6, and has won the last four meetings.
This past weekend, St. Johns was led by junior outfielder Bryan Hedgecock (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge), who batted .556 (5-for-9) as the team took two of three games from Connecticut during the first BIG EAST series of the season. He went 2-for-2 with a double and single and two runs scored in a 3-2 loss during the first game and followed that up with a 3-for-4 performance with two singles, two runs scored and two RBI in St. John's 8-3 win in the nightcap. Hedgecock added an RBI in the Red Storm's 7-6 win on Sunday. He is batting a team-best .350 (7-for-20), with one double, one home run and four RBI.
Sophomore pitcher Tom Klemm (Salem, N.H./Salem) picked up the win in the series finale, throwing seven innings, allowing four runs on four hits, as he won his second-straight game, a 7-6 decision over the Huskies. He is 2-1 this season with a 4.64 earned run average this season.
St. John's won the three-game series against Connecticut for the third time in the last four years, and now leads the head-to-head series, 44-39.
Junior transfer Marc Goldberg (Staten Island, N.Y./Port Richmond), who came to St. John's from South Florida, has been leading the pitching staff, despite a 1-3 record. Goldberg enters this weekend's play with a 1-3 overall record and a sparkling 2.27 earned run average. Goldberg has thrown a team-high 31.2 innings and allowed only eight earned runs. In three of his last four outings, he has thrown at least seven innings and allowed seven earned runs in 23.1 innings for a 2.73 earned run average. His worst outing of the season came against James Madison, lasting only five innings and allowing five runs on eight hits. On Saturday against Connecticut, he went seven innings and allowed three runs, all of them unearned, on 10 hits.
The Red Storm offense struggled at the start of the season. After batting only .210 as a team during the first seven games of the season, the St. John's offense has started to wake up. In the last seven games, the Red Storm have batted .301 (72-for-239) and won four of their last six games. During the first seven games, the team had scored only 22 runs and produced 18 RBI. In the last seven games, the team has nearly doubled their runs, with 43, and tripled their production, driving in 42.
The team hasnt had dominating performances at the plate from any one player in particular, but has received timely production when needed. Sophomore second baseman Chad Cambra (Taunton, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) batted .571 (4-for-7) with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBI last weekend. He is batting .333 (16-for-48) with a team-best five doubles this season.
Junior right fielder Billy Grasier (Jericho, N.Y./Miller Place), a transfer from Briarcliffe Community College, hit .429 (6-for-14), with a double, run scored, one RBI and a stolen base last weekend. Grasier, who has started all 14 games, is batting .317 and leads the team with 19 hits and five stolen bases.
Senior Eric Potts (Little Ferry, N.J./Ridgefield Park) began to break out of his early-season slump, going 4-for-10, with a double and a run scored over the weekend. Freshman shortstop Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J./Moorestown), one of five players new to the starting lineup, batted .385 (5-for-13) with two runs scored and two RBI. Junior centerfielder Charlie Bilezikjian (Staten Island, N.Y./Port Richmond) is batting .288 (15-for-52) with a team-best nine RBI and is tied for the team lead with five stolen bases.
