St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
NYIT
New York Tech Upends St. John's, 11-8
4/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 21, 2005
Queens, NY - New York Tech sophomore Tom Murray hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh and sophomore starter Joe Esposito threw seven innings, leading the Bears to an 11-8 upset win over St. John's in front of 206 fans on a cool and breezy evening at The Ballpark.
The loss ends an eight-game win streak against the Bears, who had not beaten St. John's since a 6-3 decision on May 9, 2001 at The Ballpark. It also ended a string of seven-straight non-league wins for the Red Storm, who fall to 24-11 overall with the loss. New York Tech improves to 14-16 overall.
With the game tied at 4-all in the fourth, the Bears took scored four runs on two hits and took advantage of three St. John's errors as the visitors lead grew to 8-4. St. John's freshman starter Nick Luisi (Bayport, NY) issued a one-out walk to Christien Diez and was set to record the second out, but his throw on a bunt attempt from Tom Murray was errant, putting runners on first and second. Brian Nentwig followed with a single to center, scoring Diez with the go-ahead run. Luisi was relieved by freshman Dan Stanley (Sewell, NJ) and Murray scored when Kraig Binick reached on an error by third baseman Jim Martin (Norwood, MA). Mike Kenefick followed with a ground ball to first, but the throw from Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, NY) hit off of Binick, allowing Nentwig to score. The bases were loaded after Bryan Pastor blooped a single to right and David Johnson drove in a run with a ground ball out, giving Tech an 8-4 lead.
The Red Storm added runs in the fourth and fifth, respectively, but a two-run home run from Murray, his first of the season, extended Tech's lead to 10-7. The Bears added another run in the eighth, when Johnson hit a two-out double to left to score Kenefick.
New York Tech starter Joe Esposito went seven innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts as he improved to 7-1 this season. Robert Bennanati threw the final two innings of the game, giving up one run on two hits, for the save.
After Luisi gave up a run in the first, the Red Storm tacked on four on New York Tech starter Joe Esposito. Martin walked, moved to second on a single from PJ Antoniato (Levittown, NY) and after a wild pitch, both runners scored on a double from Thomson. Hershelman followed with a double to center, scoring Thomson, and a triple to the wall in right from Smith brought in the final run of the inning.
Leading 4-1, however, Luisi got in trouble in the second. Mike MacMillan hit a leadoff single, Mike LaLuna walked and a single from Diez drove in a run, making it 4-2. With runners on the corners, a wild pitch pulled Tech to within a run and Kenefick tied the game with a single to center.
Kenefick led the New York Tech offense, going 4-for-5 with a double and three singles, while Diez had two hits and scored three runs. Johnson and Murray each drove in two runs.
Smith went 3-for-4 with a triple, double, single, two runs scored an RBI to pace St. John's. Antoniato and Thomson each had two hits and scored twice, while Joachim had a pair of singles.
St. John's returns to BIG EAST action this weekend, starting a three-game series at Seton Hall on Saturday at noon.
