St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Baseball Opens 2002 Season on Saturday
2/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
St. Johns (31-22 in 2001, 13-13 BIG EAST) opens on Saturday at 3 p.m. against William & Mary, last years Colonial Athletic Association champions, who are off to a 3-0 start this season, with two wins over Georgetown and a 5-4 decision against Virginia Commonwealth. Junior southpaw Tom Klemm (Salem, N.H./Salem), who went 4-3 last season, is scheduled to start for the Red Storm.
On Sunday and Monday, SJU will face 2001 Big South Champion Coastal Carolina. Junior righthander Geno Orsogna (Norfolk, Mass./Bishop Feehan) and freshman Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, N.J./Rutherford) will start for St. Johns. Orsogna was one of the teams top starters last season, tying for the team lead in wins (five) and finishing among the top-10 in the BIG EAST with a 2.98 earned run average in conference games.
Following the weekend series in South Carolina, the team will face UNC-Charlotte on Tuesday, and then begin play in the Hughes Bros. Baseball Challenge, where they will face George Mason, host UNC-Wilmington and Northern Iowa.
After the 10-day trip, St. Johns will travel to Oklahoma for series of three-games against perennial national power Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts during the weekend of March 1. The road will not get any easier the following weekend, as St. Johns heads out West for the Sun Devil Classic at Arizona State, facing host ASU, UNLV and Oklahoma State.
All told, in the first 13 games of the season, the Red Storm will play seven opponents who reached the NCAA Tournament last year.
Seventh-year head coach Ed Blankmeyer returns most of his starting lineup from last year's squad that nearly made the BIG EAST Tournament, led by a trio of seniors. Centerfielder Charlie Bilezikjian (Staten Island, N.Y./Port Richmond), a preseason All-BIG EAST selection, led the team in nearly every offensive category last season. He will be aided by third baseman Jason Kane (Rutherford, N.J./Rutherford) and second baseman J.P. Cirigliano (Flushing, N.Y./St. Francis Prep).
