St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Pittsburgh
St. John's Baseball Clinches BIG EAST Tournament Spot
5/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 22, 2004
Pittsburgh, Pa. - St. John's scored five runs in the third inning and added a single run in the sixth to take an early lead and sophomore Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, N.Y.) closed out Pittsburgh in the ninth inning, leading the Red Storm to a 6-5 win over the Panthers, and a doubleheader split on Saturday afternoon at Trees Field. Pittsburgh scored three runs in the fifth inning of the first game in a 6-4 win.
The doubleheader split, combined with Rutgers' 2-1 loss to Villanova, clinches a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament for the Red Storm, the team's first since 1999. If the Red Storm win tomorrow's series finale (first pitch at noon), St. John's could move up to the second seed in the tournament, which begins on Thursday at Commerce Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
The Red Storm led 6-2 going in the bottom of the ninth inning and Hansen struck out David Cline for the second out after a double from Mike Zambrizcki. Ben Copeland reached on catcher's interference, and a double from Bryan Spamer cut the lead to 6-4. P.J. Hiser followed with a single, plating Spamer, and Tom Cashman singled, putting runners on first and second, but the Red Storm's closer struck out Jim Negyrch for the final out, and his ninth save of the season.
St. John's led 5-2 in the sixth and junior P.J. Antoniato (Levittown, N.Y.) plated what proved to be the decisive run in the game with a two-out single down the left field line, scoring senior Anthony DeRosa (Salem, N.H.), who had reached on a double.
Trailing 1-0 in the third inning of the nightcap, junior Jim Martin (Norwood, Mass.) hit a two-out single to right and the game was tied when Antoniato doubled to right. Consecutive walks from Pittsburgh starter Andy Kuss to senior Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and junior Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, Del.) loaded the bases for Greg Thomson (Levittown, N.Y.), who doubled to right-center, giving St. John's a 3-1 lead. Redshirt freshman Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) reached on an error, scoring a run, and junior Joe Burke (Brooklyn, N.Y.) followed with a single up the middle, scoring Thomson and giving the Red Storm a 5-1 lead.
That was enough for redshirt freshman Rob Delaney (River Vale, N.J.), who went 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on six hits, with four walks and six strikeouts as he improved to 4-1 this season.
In game one, the Panthers took a 3-0 lead in the third inning when Hiser hit a sacrifice fly and Cashman hit a two-run home run off of Red Storm senior starter Joe Reid (Rutherford, N.J.). St. John's, as they have done time and time again this season, fought back to take the lead, scoring once in the fourth and three more times in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead.
In the third, Hershelman hit a leadoff double, moved to second when Thomson grounded out and scored on Joachim's singe. DeRosa led the fifth off with a solo home run to left, cutting the lead to 3-2. Pittsburgh starter Nick Evangelista walked Rozema and gave up a single to Hershelman before Thomson reached on an error and Joachim singled, giving St. John's a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, however, Copeland, Spamer and Hiser hit back-to-back-to-back solo home runs, giving the Panthers a 6-4 lead.
The Red Storm put runners on base in the final two innings, but could not plate any runs in the 6-4 loss.
