St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Baseball Travels To Face Columbia
3/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 23, 2009
QUEENS, N.Y. -
Following a sweep of Villanova to open BIG EAST play, the St. John's baseball team will take to the road to face Columbia in a non-conference matchup. The Red Storm (11-7) will travel to Columbia for the first time since 2005 to face the Lions (2-15) at 3:30 p.m. at Robertson Field.
Inside The Series With Columbia
St. John's and Columbia have met 32 times in a series that began in 1974. The Red Storm leads the all-time series 25-7 and has won the past five meetings. This is the first time that St. John's has traveled to Columbia since winning 22-5 in 2005. St. John's is 9-4 in games played at Columbia.
Scouting The Lions
This is the home-opener for Columbia, a squad that enters the contest with a 2-15 record. Columbia has played 10 games against ranked teams, including four games with then-No. 23 Lamar, and three each with then-No. 27 UC Riverside and then-No. 20 San Diego. Columbia's first win of the season was a 15-8 triumph against Lamar in the fourth and final game of the season-opening series. Jon Eisen is batting .306 on the year and has seven stolen bases in 10 attempts. Ron Williams leads the team with six doubles and nine RBI. Eisen, Mike Roberts and Anthony Potter help balance the offense with six RBI each.
STORMTRACKER
Morris Named BIG EAST Player Of The Week
For the first time in his career Tim Morris has been named the BIG EAST Player of the Week. Morris batted a team-best .600 (12-for-20), while also posting a team-best .950 slugging percentage. The junior had two-straight games in which he posted four hits and three RBI. Morris also added a team-best nine runs and tied for a team-best with four doubles on the week. Morris opened the season with an 11-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 17 of 18 games, while adding 12 multi-hit games and six multi-RBI games.
Among the BIG EAST leaders, Morris ranks second in batting average (.473), second in on-base percentage (.541) and is tied for second in hits (35). The junior is third in slugging percentage (.770), third in total bases (57) and tied for sixth in runs scored (27).
How Sweep It Is
With a sweep of Villanova, the Red Storm opened BIG EAST play with a sweep for the second-straight season and for the third time in the past four years. In 2008, en route to a second-straight regular season crown, St. John's swept Rutgers in the opening weekend of conference play. The Red Storm also swept Villanova to open BIG EAST play in 2006.
Hit Parade
St. John's has belted out at least 10 hits in 13 of 18 games this year. The Red Storm collected a season-high 23 hits in a 19-7 win against Villanova on March 20 to open BIG EAST play. From March 15 to March 22, a six game stretch, St. John's had 99 hits (16.5 per game).
