St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Baseball Holds Annual Fall Alumni Reunion
10/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 18, 2010
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's baseball program held its annual fall alumni reunion on Oct. 15, featuring an afternoon of golf at North Shore Towers and a dinner reception at the Sly Fox Inn. A total of 50 people were in attendance for the event.
"This was another successful event and a great evening for all of the alums to come back," said head coach Ed Blankmeyer. "It is always great to bring everyone together to spend time reminiscing about St. John's baseball. I would also like to thank Eddie Moore at the Sly Fox Inn for hosting our event once again this year."
Attendees included many of the most recent St. John's baseball alumni and seven current professional players including 2010 MLB draft picks Daniel Burawa, Ryan Cole, Greg Hopkins and Bruce Kern. Other current professional players in attendance included 2009 draft pick Brian Kemp, 2008 draft pick George Brown and 2005 first round pick Craig Hansen.
"It's great to be back and see so many former teammates," said Hopkins, a member of the 2010 Rookie Pioneer League champion Helena Brewers. "Coach Blankmeyer always talks about the importance of the St. John's family and now, coming back as an alum for the first time, I really understand what he was talking about."
"It was just delightful to see so many of the younger alumni in attendance," said Hall of Fame coach Jack Kaiser. "To have the younger players remain involved truly solidifies the level of support that the program gets."
The St. John's baseball team advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 33rd time in 2010, defeating VCU, then-No. 22 Mississippi and then-No. 1 Virginia to reach the Charlottesville Regional title game. The Red Storm defeated then-No. 18 Connecticut to win its conference-record sixth BIG EAST Tournament crown. Named the NCBWA and Louisville Slugger Freshman Player of the Year, Jeremy Baltz became the first St. John's player to earn All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Baseball America, Louisville Slugger and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) in the same season. Blankmeyer recorded his 500th career win and led the team to a school-record 43-win campaign.
