St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
West Virginia
St. John's Splits Baseball Doubleheader with West Virginia
4/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 16, 2005
Morgantown, WV - St. John's used a balanced attack to win the opening game 7-4, but West Virginia scored six runs in the sixth inning en route to an 8-6 win in the nightcap of a BIG EAST doubleheader at Hawley Field on Saturday afternoon.
The loss in the nightcap ends a 13-game win streak overall and a seven-game conference win streak, leaving St. John's at 22-10 overall and 8-2 in the BIG EAST. West Virginia is now 16-20 overall and 5-7 in the league.
In the opener, every St. John's opener had at least one run, one hit or one RBI in a 7-4 win. St. John's scored seven runs on 11 hits to back junior Anthony Varvaro (Staten Island, NY), who won his fifth straight game and improved to 6-2 this season. Varvaro went six innings, giving up two runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Junior Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, NY), who gave up a two-run home run to Stan Posluszny in the bottom of the seventh, closed out the game.
The Red Storm gave Varvaro a 2-0 lead inn the second after scratching together a pair of runs. With two out, sophomore second baseman Sam DeLuca (Pelham, NY) delivered a single up the middle, scoring Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, NY), who had reached on a fielder's choice. Senior Jim Martin (Norwood, MA) followed with a single to right-center, scoring Ken Devenney (Philadelphia, PA), who had reached on a bunt single.
The lead grew to 5-0 after a three-run third inning. Junior Greg Thomson (Levittown, NY) drew a leadoff walk and stole second before moving to third on a single from Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, DE). Senior catcher Joe Burke (Brooklyn, NY) then laid down a perfectly placed suicide squeeze, bringing in Thomson. Both runners moved up on a throwing error on the play and a ground ball from junior Will Vogl (Pacifica, CA) brought in one run and Joachim hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring the third run of the inning.
The Mountaineers scored a run in the third, but the Red Storm responded with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to open the gap. In the fourth, senior PJ Antoniato (Levittown, NY) was issued a two-out walk, moved to second on Thomson's single and scored when Hershelman sent a single to right-center. The Mountaineers would add another run in the bottom of the inning, but a two-out double to left center from Martin scored Joachim, who had started the rally with a single.
Martin finished with a double, single and two RBI while Hershelman went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
In the nightcap, the Red Storm raced out to a 4-1 lead after three innings and extended it to 6-1 in the fifth with two more runs, but the Mountaineers scored six runs in the sixth inning - four with two out - and took a 7-6 lead they would not relinquish.
St.John's scored a pair of runs in the first inning after WVU starter Wes Osbourne walked five batters in the inning, including one with the bases loaded and another that resulted in a sacrifice fly from Hershelman. The lead grew to 3-0 in the second when Thomson's fielder's choice drove in DeLuca, who hit a leadoff single. A solo home run from junior Eddie Schultz (Flemington, NJ) in the third and a two-run shot from junior Will Vogl (Pacifica, CA) in the fifth brought the lead to 6-1.
The Mountaineers put runners on against St.John's starter Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, NJ), but after a failed sacrifice bunt from Kyle Matuszek, he appeared ready to get out of it with runners on first and second and two out. Chad McKown followed with a single to score a run and Doug Nelms drove in two with a double to the wall in left, making it 6-4. Junior reliever Justin Muir (Plainsboro,NJ) entered the game and gave up a single and a walk to reload the bases for Tyler Kuhn, who blooped a double down the left field line, scoring all three runners and giving the Mountaineers a 7-6 lead.. They would add one more run in the eighth as Kevin Korzun threw the final 3.2 innings for the win.
The teams close out the series on Sunday with a game slated to begin at 1 p.m.
