Western Carolina Takes Series Finale, 8-3

Sunday, March 14

Cullowhee, N.C. (Childress Field at Hennon Stadium)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

7-3

Western Carolina

11-4

St. John's

Western Carolina

3/14/2021 3:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Red Storm led 3-0 after three and a half innings

By: Andrew O'Connell

After falling in an early hole, Western Carolina rallied to beat St. John's for the third time in as many days, 8-3, on Sunday afternoon at Hennon Stadium.

St. Johns (7-3) scored twice in the third inning and once in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead before the Catamounts posted four runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and a final tally in the sixth.

Making his first St. John's start, Nick Cirelli went 3-for-4 and scored twice. Vincent Bianchi also went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in the series finale.

David Glancy and Carson Bartels tallied one base knock apiece for the Red Storm.

Brian Hendry started on the mound and was tagged with his first loss of the season. Geoff Mosseau and Tyler Roche combined for a scoreless inning of relief while Ethan Routzahn recorded his fourth scoreless outing in as many appearances this spring. Joe Joe Rodriguez gave up one run in 2.0 frames of work.

After two scoreless innings for both sides to start the contest, Cirelli, Bianchi and Bartels singled to lead off the top of the third and load the bases with no outs. Jake Lazzaro then stepped to the plate and smacked a run-scoring groundball to the shortstop, who committed a throwing error that allowed Bianchi to come home and put the Johnnies up 2-0.

Cirelli and Bianchi combined to produce another run in the fourth, as Cirelli singled with two outs before Bianchi doubled to center, scoring Cirelli from first and making it a 3-0 game in favor of the Red Storm.

Facing its largest deficit of the weekend, Western Carolina (11-4) scored eight runs over the next three innings to take the 8-3 lead with which it would close the game.

St. John's returns to action on Friday when it welcomes Fordham to Jack Kaiser Stadium for the start of four-game, two-borough series. The teams will meet on Friday afternoon in Queens before playing a Saturday doubleheader in the Bronx and closing things out with a single game on Sunday at The Jack.