St. John's University Athletics
Saturday, February 23
Cullowhee, N.C. (Childress Field at Hennon Stadium)
12 p.m.
St. John's University
at
Western Carolina
St. John’s Heads to Western Carolina for a Three-Game Series
2/21/2019 9:36:00 AM | Baseball
Johnnies and Catamounts scheduled to kick off the series on Friday at 4 p.m.
Following a season-opening swing on the West Coast, the St. John's baseball team will return to action this weekend in the Tar Heel State, taking on Western Carolina for a three-game series in Cullowhee. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. while Saturday's contest is slated to start at 2 p.m. The series finale on Sunday will begin at 1 p.m. Live stats for all games will be available at CatamountSports.com.
The Red Storm (0-3) travels to face the Catamounts (3-0) following a tough weekend at No. 3 UCLA. The Bruins secured a three-game sweep and outscored the Johnnies 23-3. All three of the Red Storm's runs on the weekend were unearned. St. John's February falter bucked a trend that had seen the Red Storm start the year with at least eight consecutive wins in each of the last two seasons. St. John's had not been swept in a three-game series to open the season since dropping a trio of games at Arkansas to kick off the 2004 campaign.
Sean Mooney came close to keying a St. John's upset on Friday night, allowing just three hits and striking out eight in 5.2 innings of work. The junior right-hander was charged with an earned run after he exited the game with a 2-0 lead, as a runner on second came around to score the at-bat after he left the mound. UCLA Head Coach John Savage, Mooney's former manager with USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team, had high praise for Mooney after the game, telling D1 Baseball, "Just being around him, I knew that he loved to compete," said Savage. "I knew that he was a winner. They've got a legitimate No. 1 guy there, who is going to win a lot of Friday nights. He's a good as advertised really. He could certainly be a No. 1 in the Pac-12."
The Red Storm's two other weekend starters, Jeff Belge and Joe LaSorsa, put forth solid efforts against the loaded offense of UCLA, striking out five and seven batters, respectively, in their first starts of the season. LaSorsa's start was the first of his St. John's career after making 51 appearances out of the bullpen during his first two seasons in red and white. Sunday marked just the second loss of LaSorsa's career.
Five different St. John's field players made their first career starts last weekend in Westwood, as the Red Storm seeks to replace seven of its nine starting positions from last season. Three first-year juniors drove in runs at UCLA, as Mitchell Henshaw, Carson Bartels and Rudy Aguilar all recorded RBI hits for Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer.
Western Carolina enters the weekend following a season-opening sweep of Oakland, hanging up 42 runs during the first three games of the season. The Catamounts dominated the season opener, 21-9, before sweeping a Saturday doubleheader. Junior Luke Robinson launched a walk-off home run in the first game of the twin bill, leading Western Carolina to a 9-8 victory. In the second game, the Catamounts cruised to a 12-2 win.
As a team, Western Carolina hit .330 with 20 extra-base hits, including six home runs, in its opening series. Robinson, who left the yard three times, was one of two Catamounts with multiple round trippers on the weekend, as sophomore Justice Bigbie also went deep twice.
St. John's and Western Carolina will meet for the third time in the last three seasons. The teams last squared off in 2017, as the Red Storm opened the campaign 14-3 win over the Catamounts in Myrtle Beach before closing out the LeClair Classic at ECU with a 9-1 victory against that same Western Carolina team. The Red Storm and the Catamounts also met the year before in Wilmington during the opening weekend of the 2016 season, a 14-3 win for the Johnnies.
Overall, St. John's holds 4-3 advantage in their all-time series with the Catamounts. The teams last played a three-game set in 1999, a 2-1 series victory for Western Carolina.
The Red Storm (0-3) travels to face the Catamounts (3-0) following a tough weekend at No. 3 UCLA. The Bruins secured a three-game sweep and outscored the Johnnies 23-3. All three of the Red Storm's runs on the weekend were unearned. St. John's February falter bucked a trend that had seen the Red Storm start the year with at least eight consecutive wins in each of the last two seasons. St. John's had not been swept in a three-game series to open the season since dropping a trio of games at Arkansas to kick off the 2004 campaign.
Sean Mooney came close to keying a St. John's upset on Friday night, allowing just three hits and striking out eight in 5.2 innings of work. The junior right-hander was charged with an earned run after he exited the game with a 2-0 lead, as a runner on second came around to score the at-bat after he left the mound. UCLA Head Coach John Savage, Mooney's former manager with USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team, had high praise for Mooney after the game, telling D1 Baseball, "Just being around him, I knew that he loved to compete," said Savage. "I knew that he was a winner. They've got a legitimate No. 1 guy there, who is going to win a lot of Friday nights. He's a good as advertised really. He could certainly be a No. 1 in the Pac-12."
The Red Storm's two other weekend starters, Jeff Belge and Joe LaSorsa, put forth solid efforts against the loaded offense of UCLA, striking out five and seven batters, respectively, in their first starts of the season. LaSorsa's start was the first of his St. John's career after making 51 appearances out of the bullpen during his first two seasons in red and white. Sunday marked just the second loss of LaSorsa's career.
Five different St. John's field players made their first career starts last weekend in Westwood, as the Red Storm seeks to replace seven of its nine starting positions from last season. Three first-year juniors drove in runs at UCLA, as Mitchell Henshaw, Carson Bartels and Rudy Aguilar all recorded RBI hits for Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer.
Western Carolina enters the weekend following a season-opening sweep of Oakland, hanging up 42 runs during the first three games of the season. The Catamounts dominated the season opener, 21-9, before sweeping a Saturday doubleheader. Junior Luke Robinson launched a walk-off home run in the first game of the twin bill, leading Western Carolina to a 9-8 victory. In the second game, the Catamounts cruised to a 12-2 win.
As a team, Western Carolina hit .330 with 20 extra-base hits, including six home runs, in its opening series. Robinson, who left the yard three times, was one of two Catamounts with multiple round trippers on the weekend, as sophomore Justice Bigbie also went deep twice.
St. John's and Western Carolina will meet for the third time in the last three seasons. The teams last squared off in 2017, as the Red Storm opened the campaign 14-3 win over the Catamounts in Myrtle Beach before closing out the LeClair Classic at ECU with a 9-1 victory against that same Western Carolina team. The Red Storm and the Catamounts also met the year before in Wilmington during the opening weekend of the 2016 season, a 14-3 win for the Johnnies.
Overall, St. John's holds 4-3 advantage in their all-time series with the Catamounts. The teams last played a three-game set in 1999, a 2-1 series victory for Western Carolina.
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