St. John’s Falls to Xavier, 11-3, in Saturday Elimination Game

Saturday, May 25

Mason, Ohio (Prasco Park)

1 p.m.

St. John's University

31-23

Xavier

27-30

St. John's

Xavier

St. John’s Falls to Xavier, 11-3, in Saturday Elimination Game

5/25/2019 5:19:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Red Storm finishes the season with a record of 31-23

By: Andrew O'Connell

MASON, OHIO (May 25, 2019) – The St. John's baseball team saw its 2019 season come to a conclusion on Saturday afternoon, falling to Xavier, 11-3, in the second elimination game of the 2019 BIG EAST Baseball Championship.

St. John's wraps the campaign with a record of 31-23, marking the 23^rd time in 24 years that the Red Storm has registered a winning season under the director of Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer. The winningest program in BIG EAST history also logged its 16^th consecutive conference tournament appearance, a league record.

The Red Storm scored twice to open the game before Xavier scored 11 unanswered runs.

Ryan Markey went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Carson Bartels also recorded a pair of hits, one of which was a double. Brandon Miller doubled and drove in a run while Colin Wetterau logged a sac fly in his lone plate appearance.

Mike Antico doubled and scored a run, closing his season with a .388 batting average, the highest by a St. John's player since Troy Dixon won the BIG EAST batting title with a .394 average in 2017.

The Red Storm scored in the top of the first for the second straight game, as Bartels singled and Antico walked to set up a Markey RBI single through the right side, giving St. John's an early 1-0 lead.

The Johnnies struck again in the third, as Antico laced a leadoff double down the first base line before coming around to score on a Miller two-bagger, extending the Red Storm's lead to a pair, 2-0, after two and a half.

Luke Franzoni tied things up for Xavier in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run homer before the Musketeers took the lead the following frame. With runners on first and second and two outs, Chris Givin popped one up to short. The sun came to the aid of Xavier, as the ball harmlessly fell on the infield dirt and gave the Musketeers a 3-2 lead. Next up was Ryan Altenberger, who poked a two-run single into center and extended the Red Storm's deficit to three, 5-2. Franzoni struck again later in the frame, blasting another two-run roundtripper to left and making it a 7-2 ball game.

Neither team plated a run again until the bottom of the eighth, when Jake Shepski launched a grand slam to right and bumped the Xavier lead to 11-2.

Jon LeGrande Named Cape Cod Baseball League Playoffs MVP

Wednesday, August 13

Louis Marinaro Signs with the Texas Rangers

Tuesday, July 15

Shaun McMillan Named to NCBWA Freshman All-American Second Team

Tuesday, June 10

The fourth-seeded St. John’s baseball team fell to second-seeded UConn, 13-3, in Thursday afternoon’s elimination game of the BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by JEEP at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.

Fourth-Seeded St. John’s Falls in BIG EAST Tournament Elimination Game to Second-Seeded UConn, 13-3

Thursday, May 22

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: SCHRAMM,Trey (3-2)

L: Mondak, Nick (2-3)

St. John's

Batting:

2B: Bartels, Carson 1 ; Antico, Mike 1 ; Miller, Brandon 1 ; McGeehan, Sean 1

RBI: Wetterau, Colin 1 ; Markey, Ryan 1 ; Miller, Brandon 1

SH: Abinanti, Peter 1

SF: Wetterau, Colin 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Abinanti, Peter 1 ; Bartels, Carson 1 ; Antico, Mike 1

SB: Antico, Mike 1

HBP: McGeehan, Sean 1

Xavier

Batting:

2B: GRAMMES, Conor 1 ; MAJOR, Allbry 1 ; GIVIN,Chris 1 ; ALTENBERGER, Ryan 1 ; HOUSINGER, Jack 1

HR: SHEPSKI, Jake 1 ; FRANZONI, Luke 2

RBI: SHEPSKI, Jake 4 ; GIVIN,Chris 1 ; ALTENBERGER, Ryan 2 ; FRANZONI, Luke 4

Base Running:

RUNS: GRAMMES, Conor 1 ; SHEPSKI, Jake 2 ; WARKENTIN, Matt 1 ; GIVIN,Chris 1 ; ALTENBERGER, Ryan 2 ; FRANZONI, Luke 2 ; HOUSINGER, Jack 1 ; MONASTRA, Natale 1