St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Iona
St. John's Holds Off Iona, 5-2
4/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 21, 2004
Jamaica, N.Y. - Junior P.J. Antoniato (Levittown, N.Y.) hit an RBI single in the seventh inning, St. John's scored two unearned runs in the eighth and sophomore Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, N.Y.) was able to close out the game in the ninth, leading St. John's to a 5-2 win over Iona on Wednesday night at The Ballpark.
St. John's, winners of 19 of their last 25 games, improves to 22-13 overall, while Iona falls to 11-21.
St. John's had taken a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth, but gave the Gaels two runs in the seventh, tying the game. The Red Storm, however, quickly responded with a run in the bottom of the inning. Junior Tim Blackmon (Rochester, N.Y.) was issued a leadoff walk by Iona reliever Sean Kramer, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from senior Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.), stole third and scored on a single up the middle from Antoniato.
The Red Storm added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, extending the lead to 5-2. Junior Joe Burke (Brooklyn, N.Y.) reached on an infield single and moved to second when Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, Del.) was hit by a pitch. A ground out from Matt Robinson (Sacramento, Calif.) moved the runners up, and both runners scored when Christopher Joachim (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) hit a ground ball to third, and Gaels' third baseman AJ Dederick sent his throw into the dirt.
Senior Joe Reid (Rutherford, N.J.) gave up a single to lead off the eighth, but struck out two batters and got a ground ball out to end the inning. Sophomore Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, N.Y.) loaded the bases with a single, walk and a hit by pitch with one out, but was able to get Steve Sallustio to pop up to second and struck out James LaSala to end the game.
St. John's had been held in check through three innings by Iona starter Matt Percelli, who allowed only two hits in the first three innings. The Red Storm finally broke through against Iona with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Rozema hit a one-out bunt single and moved to second Antoniato hit a bloop single to left. Rozema moved to third after junior Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.) lined out to right field, and both runners scored when sophomore Eddie Schultz (Flemington, N.J.) dropped a double into left-center, giving the Red Storm a 2-0 lead.
The Gaels, however, got on the board with a pair of runs off of redshirt freshman reliever Justin Muir (Plainsboro, N.J.). With one out, Rob Villanova singled up the middle and Mike Perrone singled to left. A wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third and Kevin Sorhaindo singled up the middle, scoring both runs and tying the game.
St. John's had a strong effort from freshman starter Anthony Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.), who went six innings. He issued a leadoff walk in the first, but a great diving play at second, with Antoniato diving to his left and catching a ball off a hop, prevented the Gaels from getting two men on in the leadoff inning. Perrone hit a leadoff single in the second for Iona, but Sullivan struck out Sorhaindo and induced foul outs from Matt Bruno and Steve Sallustio to get out of the inning.
Sullivan retired the final 15 batters he faced before making way for Muir. He finished the night with six innings pitched, no runs on one hit, one walk and seven strikeouts in the no-decision.
St. John's continues its homestand this weekend, with four BIG EAST games. The Red Storm host Villanova on Friday at noon, and then close it out with a doubleheader against rival Rutgers on Sunday at noon.
