St. John's University Athletics
Thursday, May 16
Queens, N.Y. (Jack Kaiser Stadium)
7 p.m.
St. John's University
vs
Seton Hall
St. John’s to Battle Seton Hall with BIG EAST Berth at Stake
5/14/2019 3:42:00 PM | Baseball
Red Storm needs to win at least two games for shot at 17th straight conference tournament berth
QUEENS, N.Y. (May 14, 2019) – With just three games remaining on its 2019 regular season schedule, the St. John's baseball team will welcome local rival Seton Hall at Jack Kaiser Stadium for a series beginning on Thursday evening.
Two of the three games between the Res Storm and Pirates will air live on national television. Thursday's opener will be broadcast on FS1 while CBS Sports Network will carry Saturday's series finale. The second contest of the set will be streamed on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
The Red Storm (27-21, 6-9 BIG EAST) will have to battle to secure its 16th straight bid to the conference tournament. A sweep of Seton Hall (25-23, 9-6 BIG EAST) would guarantee the Johnnies the no. 3 seed in next week's BIG EAST Championship at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio. A series victory would present the Red Storm with a good chance of earning a spot in the field of four; the only way two wins this weekend would not result in a BIG EAST berth for St. John's would be if either Butler (5-9) or Georgetown (5-10) sweeps the other in Bethesda, as both the Bulldogs and the Hoyas would hold a tiebreaker over St. John's in that case, Butler by virtue of a higher winning percentage and Georgetown because of its series victory over the Johnnies in April. The Red Storm can finish no higher than fifth with only one win this weekend, as either Georgetown or Butler is guaranteed to finish with at least seven conference wins.
The Red Storm has not missed the BIG EAST Tournament since 2003. In the decade and a half since that last campaign without a postseason, the Red Storm has won four BIG EAST Tournament titles, captured the BIG EAST Regular Season crown six times, been to 10 NCAA Regionals, including a Super Regional in 2012, and turned in nine 40-win seasons. Regardless of this weekend's result, Ed Blankmeyer has secured his 23rd winning season in 24 tries as the head coach of the Red Storm.
Senior backstop Wyatt Mascarella is coming off a successful weekend in Omaha, going 6-for-13 with two doubles, two home runs and six RBIs. In the Red Storm's lone win of the weekend on Saturday, the Cary, Ill., native went 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and four RBIs. The four hits and four RBIs both matched career highs for Mascarella, who earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for his efforts.
Mascarella was the only Johnnie to pick up more than two hits in Omaha, but redshirt junior outfielder Peter Abinanti managed to reach base in all five of his plate appearances, picking up a pair of singles and walking three times.
Seton Hall comes to Queens on a hot streak, having won nine of its last 11 games overall and seven of its last nine in conference play. This past weekend, the Pirates swept Georgetown in a series played at Jack Kaiser Stadium, as Seton Hall's Owen T. Carroll Field is currently undergoing a renovation. The Pirates also played Butler at The Jack in late April.
Juniors Tyler Shedler-McAvoy and Matt Toke lead the Pirates offensively, as Shedler-McAvoy paces the Pirates with a .321 batting average and Toke, the only other member of the team hitting over .300, checks in at .307.
On Thursday Seton Hall will hand the ball to reigning BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year Ricky DeVito, who missed a month of action earlier this season with an injury. The Staten Island native appears to have regained the form that made him an All-American in 2018, allowing just three runs and striking out 17 over 13 innings of work in his last two appearances. The Pirates' Friday starter, Noah Thompson, was named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week on Monday after striking out six in six scoreless frames on Saturday against Georgetown. Freshman David Festa is scheduled to start the potentially critical series finale on Saturday after fanning seven in seven frames of one-run ball against the Hoyas.
The Pirates have already locked up a spot in next week's BIG EAST Baseball Championship.
St. John's and Seton Hall have squared off more than any other opponent in the history of the two programs. Thursday will mark the 154th meeting between the Red Storm and the Pirates since 1956, a stretch that has seen the Johnnies garner an 81-72 advantage against their rivals from the other side of the river.
Last year, the teams met five times in total, as the Johnnies took two of three during the regular season before the squads faced off twice on Championship Sunday at the BIG EAST Tournament. Seton Hall decisively took the first affair, 19-2, but the Red Storm shut out the Pirates in the winner-take-all game, 7-0. Jeff Belge tossed eight innings of two-hit ball in that outing, striking out nine and taking home the Jack Kaiser Award as the tournament's most outstanding player after carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning.
Two of the three games between the Res Storm and Pirates will air live on national television. Thursday's opener will be broadcast on FS1 while CBS Sports Network will carry Saturday's series finale. The second contest of the set will be streamed on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
The Red Storm (27-21, 6-9 BIG EAST) will have to battle to secure its 16th straight bid to the conference tournament. A sweep of Seton Hall (25-23, 9-6 BIG EAST) would guarantee the Johnnies the no. 3 seed in next week's BIG EAST Championship at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio. A series victory would present the Red Storm with a good chance of earning a spot in the field of four; the only way two wins this weekend would not result in a BIG EAST berth for St. John's would be if either Butler (5-9) or Georgetown (5-10) sweeps the other in Bethesda, as both the Bulldogs and the Hoyas would hold a tiebreaker over St. John's in that case, Butler by virtue of a higher winning percentage and Georgetown because of its series victory over the Johnnies in April. The Red Storm can finish no higher than fifth with only one win this weekend, as either Georgetown or Butler is guaranteed to finish with at least seven conference wins.
The Red Storm has not missed the BIG EAST Tournament since 2003. In the decade and a half since that last campaign without a postseason, the Red Storm has won four BIG EAST Tournament titles, captured the BIG EAST Regular Season crown six times, been to 10 NCAA Regionals, including a Super Regional in 2012, and turned in nine 40-win seasons. Regardless of this weekend's result, Ed Blankmeyer has secured his 23rd winning season in 24 tries as the head coach of the Red Storm.
Senior backstop Wyatt Mascarella is coming off a successful weekend in Omaha, going 6-for-13 with two doubles, two home runs and six RBIs. In the Red Storm's lone win of the weekend on Saturday, the Cary, Ill., native went 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and four RBIs. The four hits and four RBIs both matched career highs for Mascarella, who earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for his efforts.
Mascarella was the only Johnnie to pick up more than two hits in Omaha, but redshirt junior outfielder Peter Abinanti managed to reach base in all five of his plate appearances, picking up a pair of singles and walking three times.
Seton Hall comes to Queens on a hot streak, having won nine of its last 11 games overall and seven of its last nine in conference play. This past weekend, the Pirates swept Georgetown in a series played at Jack Kaiser Stadium, as Seton Hall's Owen T. Carroll Field is currently undergoing a renovation. The Pirates also played Butler at The Jack in late April.
Juniors Tyler Shedler-McAvoy and Matt Toke lead the Pirates offensively, as Shedler-McAvoy paces the Pirates with a .321 batting average and Toke, the only other member of the team hitting over .300, checks in at .307.
On Thursday Seton Hall will hand the ball to reigning BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year Ricky DeVito, who missed a month of action earlier this season with an injury. The Staten Island native appears to have regained the form that made him an All-American in 2018, allowing just three runs and striking out 17 over 13 innings of work in his last two appearances. The Pirates' Friday starter, Noah Thompson, was named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week on Monday after striking out six in six scoreless frames on Saturday against Georgetown. Freshman David Festa is scheduled to start the potentially critical series finale on Saturday after fanning seven in seven frames of one-run ball against the Hoyas.
The Pirates have already locked up a spot in next week's BIG EAST Baseball Championship.
St. John's and Seton Hall have squared off more than any other opponent in the history of the two programs. Thursday will mark the 154th meeting between the Red Storm and the Pirates since 1956, a stretch that has seen the Johnnies garner an 81-72 advantage against their rivals from the other side of the river.
Last year, the teams met five times in total, as the Johnnies took two of three during the regular season before the squads faced off twice on Championship Sunday at the BIG EAST Tournament. Seton Hall decisively took the first affair, 19-2, but the Red Storm shut out the Pirates in the winner-take-all game, 7-0. Jeff Belge tossed eight innings of two-hit ball in that outing, striking out nine and taking home the Jack Kaiser Award as the tournament's most outstanding player after carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning.
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