St. John's University Athletics
Blankmeyer Announces 2008 Baseball Captains
1/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 30, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer has announced his team captains for the 2008 baseball season. Senior shortstop Jeff Grantham will serve as captain, while seniors Chris Anninos, George Brown and Gil Zayas will serve as assistant captains.
"These seniors are excellent student-athletes and have excelled both on and off the field during their careers," Blankmeyer said. "All four of them have been with the program for four years and have done many great things to contribute to the success of the baseball program."
Grantham is coming off a solid 2007 campaign in which he batted .342 with 30 RBI, 30 runs scored and a team best four triples. Grantham also earned CoSIDA and ESPN The Magazine first team Academic All-America honors after maintaining a 3.98 GPA in physics. During three seasons at St. John's, Grantham holds a .334 career batting average, has made 87 starts and has appeared in 128 games.
Anninos batted .325 with eight home runs and nine doubles in 2007. The outfielder also collected 37 RBI, had a .490 slugging percentage and scored 47 runs. Anninos heated up during the NCAA Tournament as he combined to go 5-for-7 with three home runs and seven RBI in a doubleheader against VCU and Coastal Carolina.
Brown was named to the All-BIG EAST third team after posting a 6-2 record and a 3.09 ERA as a junior. The lefty worked 78.2 innings and tallied 46 strikeouts. In three seasons with St. John's, Brown has a 13-2 record and a 2.81 ERA.
Zayas was named to the All-BIG EAST first team after a season in which he batted a team best .353 and also led the team with 84 hits and 21 doubles. Zayas hit safely in 47 games during the 2007 season and also recorded 26 multi-hit games. The third baseman currently stands tied for eighth all-time with 38 career doubles.
The St. John's baseball team begins the 2008 campaign on Feb. 22 with a game against Gardner-Webb. The Red Storm will play its first eight games in Rock Hill, S.C., before heading to California for a four-game set against Cal-State Northridge. St. John's opens at home against Long Island University on March 12.
