No. 4 St. John's Falls to Creighton, 7-4

Saturday, April 8

Omaha, Neb. (TD Ameritrade Park Omaha)

7:30 PM

St. John's University

22-4, 1-1

Creighton

9-16, 1-1

St. John's

Creighton

4/8/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 8, 2017

Final Stats | Box Score (PDF)

OMAHA, Neb. - Despite cutting into the Creighton lead and bringing the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs in the top of the ninth, the No. 4 St. John's Red Storm was unable to close the gap, falling to the Bluejays, 7-4, at TD Ameritrade Park on Saturday night.

Anthony Brocato paced the Johnnies (22-4, 1-1) in the losing effort, going 3-for-5 with an RBI.

Michael Donadio and Jesse Berardi each registered a pair of hits and an RBI for the Red Storm on the evening, while John Valente recorded a single and scored twice.

Jamie Galazin tallied three hits, his fifth game of the season with at least three base knocks.

Gui Gingras, one of the nation's leaders in batting average heading into the series, broke through for the Red Storm after falling hitless in his last two, going 2-for-4.

Despite allowing just eight hits on the evening, the Red Storm pitching staff walked five and hit six Creighton (9-16, 1-1) batters, the latter of which was a season high.

St. John's registered 13 hits to Creighton's eight, continuing a streak that has seen the Red Storm either tie or outhit its opponent in every game this season.

After falling behind in the first inning last night, it was the Red Storm's turn for a hot start in game two. Valente led off the contest with a well-placed bunt single to the right side of the infield and came around to score two batters later when Berardi blasted an RBI triple to the gap in left center. Next up was Brocato, who ripped a single to left, bringing home Berardi and extending the Red Storm lead to two with one out in the top of the first.

After a few scoreless frames, Creighton answered in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded and two outs, sophomore Clark Brinkman ripped a double down the left field line to bring home all three bases runners and put the Bluejays up 3-2 after four.

The Bluejays added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, as Thomas Luevano hit a two-RBI triple to the gap in right center, extending the Creighton lead to three, 5-2, heading into the seventh.

St. John's wasted no time responding, plating a run to cut the deficit to two in the top of the seventh. Valente drew a one-out walk before advancing to second on a passed ball in the following at-bat. Following a Donadio fly-out to center, Berardi smacked a hard-hit grounder toward the second baseman that slid right under his glove, allowing Valente to score and making it 5-3 after six and a half.

With their lead down to a pair, the Bluejays added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, as two-consecutive Creighton batters were hit by pitches before a two-run double to left center scored them both and pushed the Red Storm deficit to four, 7-3.

The Red Storm fought back in its final frame, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate before ultimately falling short. With one out, Galazin singled to third before advancing to second on a groundout in the following at bat. In scoring position, Galazin came home on a Donadio single up the middle, cutting the deficit to three with the Johnnies down to their final out. Berardi and Brocato then registered back-to-back singles to load the bases for Mike Antico, but the freshman hit a ball hard at the second baseman that ended the contest.

St. John's and Creighton will play the final game of their series on Sunday afternoon, as the two teams will decide the series winner at 1 p.m. ET inside TD Ameritrade Park.