St. John's University Athletics
SJU Splits Doubleheader with Notre Dame
4/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
In the nightcap, St. John's (13-13, 5-4 BIG EAST) scored three runs in the first inning and added one more in the fourth, taking a 4-0 lead. In the first inning, senior Billy Graiser (Muttontown, N.Y.) hit an infield single and stole second, sophomore Anthony DeRosa (Salem, N.H.) walked and freshman Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.) was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with two out. Notre Dame starter J.P. Gagne walked sophomore Jeremy Winter (Cliffside Park, N.Y.) to score Graiser with the first run and junior catcher Josh Young (Pittsford, N.Y.) followed with a single to left-center, scoring two runs and giving the Red Storm a 3-0 lead.
Senior starter Greg Holmes (Stony Brook, N.Y.), meanwhile, was solid in the early going and worked his way out of several jams. After a two-out single in the first, he picked off ND centerfielder Steve Stanley and he induced a bases loaded ground out in the second.
In the fourth, junior Chad Cambra (Taunton, Mass.) reached on an error and moved to second when sophomore second baseman Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.) reached on a bunt single. Graiser's sacrifice bunt moved the runners up before DeRosa walked. Senior Charlie Bilezikjian (Staten Island, N.Y.) followed with a long fly ball to center, scoring Cambra with what would prove to be the decisive run.
Holmes retired the first batter in the Irish sixth, but Steve Sollman followed with a single and Javier Sanchez reached on an error before Kris Billmaier followed with a three-run home run to left, narrowing the gap to one run, 4-3.
A two-out single from Ken Meyer sent Holmes to the showers. He was relieved by junior Tom Klemm (Salem, N.H.), who struck out Matt Bok to end the threat. Klemm left in the seventh with runners on the corners and Tamulionis induced Sanchez to pop out.
Stanley led off the ninth with a single and, with one out, Andrew Bushey reached on a fielder's choice, but an error allowed Stanley to move to third. Tamulionis beared down and struck out Sollman and Sanchez to end the game and earn his first save of the season.
Holmes improved to 3-1 this season after throwing 5.2 innings and allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits. Tamulionis went 2.1 innings and struck out three batters.
In the first game, the Irish scored two runs in the third and added two more in the fourth en route to the 4-1 win. Meyer hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored when Paul O'Toole singled through the right side. O'Toole moved to second on the throw home and scored when Andrew Bushey singled up the middle. The Irish added two more runs in the fourth off SJU freshman starter Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, N.J.), with Billmaier's single up the middle scoring Sollman, who had hit a leadoff double. Sollman moved to third on a single and scored on an error.
The Red Storm had chances, putting runners in scoring position in the first two innings, but could not put runs on the board. Graiser was issued a leadoff walk and moved to third on a DeRosa single, but ND starter John Axford induced three straight ground ball outs to get out of the inning.
St. John's cut the margin in the seventh, with Winter hitting a sacrifice fly to deep center, narrowly missing a home run that could have tied the game. DeRosa hit an infield single to load the bases again, but Matt Buchmeier induced Bilezikjian to fly out to center, ending the game.
Wladyka falls to 1-4 overall with the loss.
Notes: St. John's and Notre Dame wrap up their three-game series on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. The game has been moved up an hour due to inclement weather expected in the region Bilezikjian and senior Jason Kane (Rutherford, N.J.), the Red Storm's No. 3 and 4 hitters in the lineup, went 0-for-14 on the afternoon Martin hit two singles and scored a run in the second game DeRosa hit a pair of singles in the first game Prior to the first game, Notre Dame held a moment of silence for former St. John's baseball player Mike Weinberg, a New York City fireman who was killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11.
