St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Virginia Tech
4/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The doubleheader split leaves St. Johns record at 18-15 overall and 8-6 in the BIG EAST, tied for second place with Notre Dame, Rutgers, Seton Hall and Virginia Tech. Boston College leads the conference with a 10-4 mark.
In the opener, the Hokies jumped on top in the second inning when Spencer Harris hit a one-out single to right, scoring Chris Hutchinson, who walked and moved to second on a single from Jed English. Harris was thrown out going to second for the second out and Dorsey induced a groundout to get out of the inning.
The Red Storm tied the game in the third when junior outfielder Ray Downs (New Rochelle, N.Y.) hit a 1-0 offering from Tech starter Chip Runyon over the centerfield wall, becoming the first SJU player in the two-year history of the park to hit one that far, estimated at 410 feet.
Dorsey settled down and retired the next six batters before hitting English to lead off the fifth. English moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a single from Pat Pinkman. Chris Stanton reached on a fielders choice, but English, the lead runner, was tagged out at the third base bag by Young, ending the threat.
St. Johns mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh when freshman Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.) hit a leadoff single and move to second on a bunt from Anthony DeRosa (Salem, N.H.). Junior Chad Cambra (Taunton, Mass.) reached on a fielders choice, with Martin out on the play, and Downs was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Young, who hit a long fly ball to left, bringing home DeRosa with the winning run.
Dorsey went seven innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking two and striking out three as he improved to 5-1.
In the nightcap, Tech struck first when Wayne Toregas RBI single brought home John West, who hit a leadoff double in the second. The Red Storm bounced back in the bottom of the inning, when sophomore Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.) doubled and scored on a single from junior Asa Grunenwald (Boalsburg, Pa.).
Back-to-back home runs from Brad Bauder and Harris off SJU starter Charlie Bilezikjian (Staten Island, N.Y.) gave Tech a 3-1 lead in the fourth, but SJU scored three more times in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. Senior Billy Graiser (Muttontown, N.Y.) was issued a leadoff walk and stole second before coming home on DeRosas double to left center. Bilezikjian followed with a two-run home run to left, giving SJU a 4-3 lead.
The Hokies, however, scored four times in the seventh, taking the lead for good. Chris Winterfeldt hit a leadoff single and moved to third on Marc Tugwells single. Hutchisons sacrifice fly tied the game, with Tugwell moving up to second. West walked and a double steal brought home Tugwell with the go-ahead run. After Toregas singled to put runners on the corners, junior reliever Gilbert Fregoso (San Jose, Calif.) gave up a run-scoring single to Bauder, giving Tech a 6-4 lead. Harris then hit a single through the left side, scoring Toregas and giving the Hokies a 7-4 advantage.
Tugwells RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh made it an 8-4 game. The Red Storm had the bases loaded in the eighth, but Bilezikjian grounded into a double play, scoring Young, ending the threat.
Josh Biber picked up the win for the Hokies, throwing 2.0 innings of scoreless relief, while Matt Dalton earned his fifth save of the season, with 2.0 innings of scoreless relief.
St. Johns plays next on Wednesday, hosting C.W. Post at The Ballpark at 7 p.m.
