St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Baseball in Thick of BIG EAST Race
4/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Despite that, the Red Storm have pulled together and are among a group of nine teams battling for one of four spots in next moths BIG EAST Tournament.
St. Johns dropped two of three games last weekend at Notre Dame and returns home with a 13-14 overall record, and a 5-5 mark in the conference. They are tied with the defending regular season champion Fighting Irish and preseason league favorite Rutgers for sixth place. Only two games separate the top eight teams in the league.
The Red Storm play a pair of non-league games this week before hosting a pair of conference rivals during the weekend. On Tuesday, SJU will play St. Francis (N.Y.) at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn, home of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m. On Wednesday night, the Red Storm return home to the Ballpark at St. Johns, hosting Columbia at 7 p.m.
Following the non-league games, SJU hosts BIG EAST rival Georgetown on Friday in a doubleheader beginning at noon. The conference action continues on Sunday, with the Red Storm hosting Virginia Tech, who is tied for first place with Connecticut at 7-3.
Since starting the season with a 1-8 record, the Red Storm have won 12 of their last 18 games. Freshman Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.), who has started 10 games at first base for the team, leads the squad with a .477 batting average, and is batting .600 (9-for-15) in the last four games. His .520 batting average in conference games (13-for-25) leads the BIG EAST. Senior centerfielder Charlie Bilezikjian (Staten Island, N.Y.) is the leader in nearly every offensive category for the team, batting .361 (35-for-97), with a team-high 26 runs, eight home runs, 27 RBI and 17 walks. He ranks third in the league in home runs, ninth in RBI, fourth in total bases (67), ninth in on-base percentage (.462) and fourth in slugging percentage (.691). Third baseman Jason Kane (Rutherford, N.J.), who is batting .392, is the only player to have started every game and leads the team with 40 hits and 11 doubles. His 40 hits rank sixth in the league, while he is fourth in the league in doubles. Senior Billy Graiser (Muttontown, N.Y.) is third In the conference with 14 stolen bases.
The Red Storm pitching staff has been solid so far, ranking fifth in the league with a 4.61 earned run average. Junior Mike Tamulionis (West Bridgewater, Mass.), who struck out the final two batters in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run on third in a 4-3 win over Notre Dame on Saturday, is 0-1 with a 4.22 earned run average and one save in 12 appearances, the fifth-best mark in the conference. Seniors Greg Holmes (Stony Brook, N.Y.) and Brian Dorsey (Smithtown, N.Y.) lead the team in wins. Dorsey is 3-1 with a 4.50 earned run average, while Holmes is 3-1 with a 5.17 ERA. Bilezikjian has been consistent on the hill, carrying a 4.24 ERA, the best among all starters, with a 2-4 record, while freshman Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, N.J.) is only 1-4, but has a 4.30 earned run average.
