St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Notre Dame
St. John's Drops Opener Against Notre Dame, 14-5
4/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 30, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The St. John's baseball team had its winning-streak snapped at eight games following a 14-5 loss to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish took advantage of four Red Storm errors to score eight unearned runs in the contest. Matt Wessinger was 1-for-3 with a two-run home run and Paul Karmas was 1-for-3 with a solo home run to lead St. John's (27-13, 10-6). Sean O'Hare had a pinch-hit, two-run double and Jimmy Parque was 2-for-3. Brayden Ashdown was 2-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI, while David Mills had three RBI to lead Notre Dame (20-22, 8-8). Brian Dupra (4-2) earned the win, allowing five runs in 8.0 innings.
Notre Dame took the early lead with a pair of runs in the first inning. Ryan Connolly was plunked on the first offering of the game before Frank Desico singled, but moved to third on a fielding error that also allowed Connolly to score. Mills followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Irish a 2-0 lead.
The Irish extended its lead to 5-0 in the second. After Billy Boockford singled to lead off the frame, Bruce Kern (5-4) tallied back-to-back strikeouts. Greg Sherry then singled and Connolly walked to load the bases with two outs. DeSico followed with a two-run single before Mills blooped an RBI single into right field.
Ashdown added a lead off home run in the third inning as Notre Dame went up 6-0.
After a Parque double in the first inning, Dupra retired 10-straight before Jeremy Baltz reached on an infield single in the fourth.
Sean Hagan relieved Kern to open the fourth and promptly notched a pair of strikeouts to open a scoreless frame.
St. John's then got on the board in the fifth inning with a home run. With one out, Karmas launched a solo shot to deep left field to make it a 6-1 game.
Notre Dame put up seven runs in the fifth inning, but only one of those runs was earned. Boockford doubled to lead off the frame and Mick Doyle was plunked before back-to-back errors allowed two runs to score. After a one out single and a RBI fielder's choice, Casey Martin lined a two-run double into right field and Ashdown added a two-run home run to left field to give Notre Dame a 13-1 advantage.
St. John's used the long ball again to add two runs in the seventh. After Greg Hopkins led off the frame with a single through the right side, Wessinger blasted a two-run home run to left field.
Notre Dame added an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh to go up 14-3.
The Red Storm added two more runs in the eighth to make it a 14-5 game. After a one-out single for Joe Panik, Hopkins walked with two outs to give St. John's runners on first and second. O'Hare then entered as a pinch-hitter and lined a two-run double into center, but was thrown out at third base to end the inning.
St. John's returns to action against Notre Dame at 1:05 p.m. on May 1.
