St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Baseball Readies for NCAA Tournament
6/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 3, 2004
Palo Alto, Calif. - The St. John's University baseball team arrived in California on Wednesday afternoon and wasted no time making preparations for its first NCAA Tournament appearance, on Friday at Sunken Diamond on the campus of Stanford University. The Red Storm, seeded third in this regional with a 36-21 record, will play No. 18 Long Beach State, the second seed with a 36-19 record and the Big West Conference runner-up.
First pitch for the game is slated for 5 p.m. (ET). The game will be televised on College Sports Television (CSTV), with Mike Crispino, the voice of St. John's Basketball, calling the play-by-play, and Steve Phillips, the former New York Mets general manager, serving as the color analyst. The game can also be heard on www.redstormsports.com, with Stanford sophomore Sean Bruich calling the action.
After touching down in San Francisco at approximately noon on Wednesday, the Red Storm checked into their hotel and held a workout in the area. The team visited the Fisherman's Wharf in downtown San Francisco that evening.
On Thursday, St. John's had its first workout on Sunken Diamond, home of the host Cardinal, the No. 1 team in the country with a 44-12 record.
"The last time we were out here was about nine years ago at the Johnny Quick Pepsi Tournament (when St. John's went 1-2, with a win over Portland State and losses to Fresno State and Nebraska)," Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer said. "Our coaching staff is familiar with West Coast baseball.
"I think the kids are excited. There are two West Coast teams here, Long Beach State and Stanford who have storied histories."
The Red Storm will be making their 28th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and its second in nine years under Blankmeyer.
St. John's will start sophomore Anthony Varvaro (Staten Island, N.Y.) on Friday. Varvaro, a second team All-BIG EAST selection, carries an 8-3 record and a 3.83 earned run average. He is coming off an eight-inning, three-hit, 10-strikeout performance against Pittsburgh in the BIG EAST Tournament.
Long Beach State, meanwhile, will counter with either junior lefty Jason Vargas or sophomore southpaw Cesar Ramos. Vargas is 7-6 with a 4.25 earned run average, while Ramos carries a 10-4 record and a 2.30 earned run average. The Dirtbags' top pitcher, Jered Weaver, who is 14-1 with a 1.68 ERA and is expected to be a top pick in this year's Major League Baseball Draft, will not start Friday's game.
"Long Beach State plays good baseball," Blankmeyer said. "We're not really flashy, we just have solid players.
"I think we're pitching well and have turned the corner. I think we had young kids on our pitching staff last year that have matured. We're very resilient both offensively and defensively and have timely hitting."
The other game slated for Friday features Stanford and UNLV. Games on Saturday are slated for 2 p.m. (ET), 6 p.m. (ET) and 10 p.m. (ET).