St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Baseball Season Opener Postponed
2/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
All four teams will now play doubleheaders on Saturday. St. Johns will face off against the host Jaguars (1-4) at 2 p.m. (ET) on Stanky Field on the USA campus. The Red Storm will play Southern Mississippi at 8 p.m. (ET) on Saturday night.
St. Johns Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer is beginning his eighth year at the helm of the Red Storm program. The Red Storm, picked to finish fifth in the BIG EAST, are coming off a 29-23 season in 2002. They finished 14-12 in conference play and were within one out of making the conference tournament.
On Saturday, sophomore Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, N.J.) is scheduled to start the opener. Wladyka finished his first season with a 4-4 overall record and a 3.84 earned run average, including a 3-1 mark in BIG EAST play. Graduate student Greg Holmes (Stony Brook, N.Y.), who was 5-4 with a 5.93 earned run average last year, will take the mound against Southern Mississippi in the nightcap.
St. Johns wraps up play in the Coca-Cola Classic on Sunday with a game against Northwestern at 12:30 p.m. (ET). Freshman Anthony Varvaro (Staten Island, N.Y.), a New York City All-Star as a senior at Curtis High School when he struck out 93 batters in 62.2 innings pitched, is slated to start.
The Red Storm return seven offensive starters from last years squad. Senior Anthony DeRosa (Salem, N.H.) is the teams top returning offensive player. DeRosa finished third on the team in batting with a .337 average. After spending last year in the outfield, DeRosa is expected to start the season at third base.
Sophomore Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.), who batted .328 last year, is expected to start at first, with senior John-Paul Cirigliano (Flushing, N.Y.) and junior Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.) at short. Senior Asa Grunenwald (Boalsburg, Pa.) will be behind the plate for the Red Storm. Grunenwald was tabbed as the top defensive catcher in the BIG EAST by Collegiate Baseball.
In the outfield, senior Billy Graiser (Muttontown, N.Y.), who stole 26 bases last year, is expected to start in center, with senior Ray Downs (New Rochelle, N.Y.) in right and junior transfer Drew Jackson (Morgantown, W. Va.), a third-team Junior College All-American last year at Potomac State J.C., in left.
