St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
West Virginia
St.John's Pounds West Virginia,16-8
5/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 2, 2004
Morgantown, W. Va. - St. John's batted around in two-straight innings and senior Joe Reid (Rutherford, N.J.) went six strong innings in a gutty performance as the Red Storm bounced back from a doubleheader sweep on Saturday to beat West Virginia, 16-8, at Hawley Field on Sunday afternoon.
The game was delayed for one hour and 24 minutes due to heavy rains with St. John's leading 2-0 after two innings. The win improves the Red Storm to 28-16 overall and 13-7 in the BIG EAST, while the Mountaineers fall to 18-23 and 8-12 in the league.
In the sixth, junior Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, Del.) got things going with a single to left, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Ken Devenney (Philaldelphia, Pa.). A single from sophomore Eddie Schultz (Flemington, N.J.) scored Hershelman, giving St. John's a 4-1 lead. WVU reliever Shawn Miller then gave up a single to senior Anthony DeRosa (Salem, N.H.) and walked junior Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.) to load the bases. Junior P.J. Antoniato (Levittown, N.Y.) laced a single to left to score Schultz, and an error on Mountaineers left fielder Jake Serfass allowed two more runs to score, as the lead grew to 7-1. Wes Osbourn relieved Miller and gave up a single to senior Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.), scoring Antoniato and giving the Red Storm an 8-1 lead. Rozema moved to second on a balk and scored when junior catcher Joe Burke (Brooklyn, N.Y.) singled up the middle. Burke moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on a wild pitch and appeared to have crossed the plate on a double to left from Hershelman, but he was called out for missing first, ending the inning with St. John's lead 9-1.
Reid gave up a solo home run to Lee Fritz leading off the bottom of the inning and proceeded to load the bases after a walk to Kurtis Clinton was sandwiched between singles from Stan Posluszny and Kyle Matuszek. He struck out Casey Bowling for the second out, but a single down the left field line from Justin Richads scored two runs, cutting the lead to 9-4.
He went 6.0 innings, gave up four runs on seven walks, but walked only two batters while striking out a season-high nine batters as he improved to 5-3. Senior Geno Orsogna (Norfolk, Mass.) threw a scoreless seventh inning, while sophomore Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, N.Y.) threw the final two innings.
With one out in the seventh, Schultz walked with one out and scored when DeRosa hit a blast to left - his fourth home run of the season - as the lead grew to 11-4. West Virginia reliever Levi Maxwell loaded the bases after hitting Martin and walks to Antoniato and Rozema. Redshirt freshman Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) reached on an error and Hershelman walked to force in another run. Devenney followed with a double down the left field line, clearing the bases and giving St. John's a 16-4 lead.
The top three batters in the Red Storm lineup - Martin, Antoniato and Rozema - combined to go 7-for-10, with eight runs scored, three RBI and six walks. Martin, who reached base six times in the game, led the team with three hits, while Antoniato, Rozema, Joachim, Devenney, Schultz and DeRosa had two hits apiece.
St. John's had taken a 2-0 lead after two innings off of West Virginia starter Justin Asbury. Martin led the game off with a fly ball to left that twisted in the winds in the area, dropping in at the wall for a double. A sacrifice moved him up a bag, and he scored on a ground out from Rozema. Devenney led the second inning off with a blast to left, his third home run in the last four games, giving St. John's a 2-0 lead.
After the rain delay, Reid came out strong. Despite giving up a leadoff single to Casey Bowling, he retired the next six batters, striking out four in that span.
The Red Storm extended their lead to 3-0 in the fifth with a two-out rally off of Mountaineers reliever Shawn Miller, who relieved Asbury with runners on first and second and two out in the second. Antoniato reached on a fielder's choice - after his short fly ball to right popped out of the glove of diving WVU right fielder Stan Posluzny, Martin, who singled, was forced out at second - and moved to second after Rozema singled through the left side. Joachim followed with a bloop single to center, scoring Antoniato with the third run.
Reid got into a little trouble in the fifth but was able to work out of it. Clinton hit a leadoff home run to left, narrowing the Red Storm lead to 3-1, and Reid gave up a single to Kyle Matuszek and walked Justin Richards before inducing a flyout and striking out Jake Serfass to end the inning.
St. John's returns to play on Tuesday, playing at New York Tech at 3 p.m.
