St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Georgetown
Varvaro Leads Red Storm Past Georgetown, 5-1
3/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 28, 2004
Jamaica, N.Y. - St. John's scored four runs in the second inning en route to a 5-1 win over the Georgetown Hoyas in BIG EAST action today. The Red Storm, who took the three-game series from the Hoyas 2-1, improve to 11-9 overall and 2-1 in the conference, while Georgetown falls to 17-13 overall and 1-2 in the BIG EAST.
St. John's pulled ahead early, picking up four runs in the second inning off Georgetown pitcher Stephen Burns. With one out, Anthony DeRosa (Salem, N.H.) picked up the Red Storm's first hit of the afternoon with a single to centerfield that moved Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, N.Y.), who reached on a walk, to second. Eddie Shultz (Flemington, N.J.) doubled down the left field line, allowing DeRosa to advance to third and Joachim to score. On the next play, Eric Grabowski (Spencer, Mass.) claimed the game-winning RBI, as his single up the middle drove in both Shultz and DeRosa, giving St. John's a 3-0 advantage. With two outs, Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.) singled to right center and drove in Grabowski to give the Red Storm a 4-0 lead, before Mike Rozema (Fairlawn, N.J.) was thrown out attempting to score from first to end the inning.
The Red Storm added an insurance run in the third inning, after Joe Burke (Brooklyn, N.Y.) stole second after reaching base on a fielder's choice. Burke was pushed to third on a single by Joachim and DeRosa reached on a fielder's choice, allowing Burke to cross the plate.
St. John's sophomore pitcher Anthony Varvaro (Staten Island, N.Y.) was consistent throughout most of the game, and, with one out and runners on first and third for the Hoyas in the fourth inning, got himself out of a jam by striking out Timmy Jones and ended the inning by forcing a ground out to second base by Derek deGrijs.
Danny Gronski was hit by Varvaro to start the seventh inning for Georgetown. With Robert Delaney (River Vale, N.J.) in for relief for St. John's, Parker Brooks laid down a sacrifice bunt that pushed Gronski to second and, after Delaney caught Jim Supple looking at the plate, Billy Quinn singled to left field allowing Gronski to score the Hoya's lone run. Michael Lombardi grounded out to end the Georgetown threat.
After allowing one hit in the seventh, Delaney came out on fire in the eighth, striking out the side for a 1-2-3 inning.
Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, N.Y.) took the mound for St. John's in the top of the ninth with one out, and forced Georgetown's Brooks into a game-ending double play.
Varvaro, who struck out two batters on the afternoon, improved his record to 3-0 with the win for St. John's. Burns fell to 0-1 with the loss.
For St. John's, Delaney, who faced nine batters, recorded four strikeouts. Grabowski went 1-for-4 with two RBI, and Joachim and Schultz each went 2-for-3 for the Red Storm.
St. John's will return to action on Wednesday, March 31 at Wagner. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
For the most up-to-date information and statistics on St. John's Athletics, please visit www.RedStormSports.com, or call our hotline at 1-888-GO-STORM.
