St. John's University Athletics
Five-Run Fourth Leads St. Johns Past Fairfield, 11-3
3/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
With the game tied at 2-all in the fourth, sophomore Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.) and freshman Eddie Schultz (Flemington, N.J.) drew leadoff walks and junior Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.) reached on a bunt single to load the bases. A single from sophomore second baseman Brett Hardie (Toms River, N.J.) broke the tie and senior Billy Graiser (Muttontown, N.Y.) reached on a fielders choice, scoring Schultz and giving St. Johns a 4-2 lead. A wild pitch by freshman reliever Dan Breen brought in Rozema and junior Anthony DeRosa (Salem, N.H.) followed with a two-run home run to left his second of the season giving St. Johns a 7-2 lead.
Four pitchers graduate student Greg Holmes (Stony Brook, N.Y.), senior Gilbert Fregoso (San Jose, Calif.), senior Tom Klemm (Salem, N.H.) and freshman Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, N.Y.) allowed only two hits over the final four innings to close out the game.
The Stags had taken a 2-0 lead in the first with an RBI single from Antuan Barnett and a double from Sal Mancuso, but St. Johns freshman starter Greg Thomson (Levittown, N.Y.) settled down and struck out the final two batters of the inning to get out of the jam.
Thomson who went 4.0 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts while improving to 2-0 allowed two singles in his last three innings.
The Red Storm scored a run in the bottom of the first when DeRosa walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch, and tied the game in the third when senior Ray Downs (New Rochelle, N.Y.) walked, stole second and scored on a wild pitch.
Martin finished 2-for-2, with two singles, two runs scored and one RBI, while Rozema, Downs, Hardie, DeRosa and Graiser each had a hit.
The Red Storm open a three-game series with Hofstra this Friday at The Ballpark, with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.
