Back-to-Back Shutouts Lift Red Storm to Friday Sweep of Butler

Friday, May 14

Indianapolis, Ind. (Bulldog Park)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

16-18, 7-13

Butler

10-20, 4-10

St. John's

Butler

Nick Mondak scattered two hits and a walk over 6.0 innings of scoreless work.

Back-to-Back Shutouts Lift Red Storm to Friday Sweep of Butler

5/14/2021 7:22:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game One Box Score (PDF)Game Two Box Score (PDF)

Johnnies’ pitchers throw 16 scoreless innings, offense adds 13 runs in pair of victories

By: Kenny Conrade

QUEENS, N.Y. – Consecutive shutouts from its pitching staff led the St. John's baseball team to a pair of victories, 9-0 and 4-0, over Butler at Bulldog Park on Friday afternoon.

The Red Storm (17-18, 8-13 BIG EAST) got a pair of strong starts from Nick Mondak and Ian Murphy to go along with six scoreless innings from its bullpen over the twin bill to keep the Bulldogs (10-21, 4-11 BIG EAST) offense at bay. Mondak threw six of the seven innings in a game one victory, his fourth of the year, while Murphy threw four-plus and four relief pitchers sealed the deal in game two.

Offensively, the Johnnies exploded for 23 hits over the two games. Leadoff hitter Carson Bartels led the way in game one, as he tallied three hits and four RBIs. The bottom of the Red Storm batting order got it done in game two, as the seven, eight and nine hitters combined for seven of the team's ten hits and all four RBIs.

Game One

Mondak delivered a career effort on the mound and the Red Storm offense exploded in a 9-0 seven-inning victory.

Mondak scattered three hits and a walk over 6.0 scoreless innings to improve to 4-3 on the year. The redshirt junior southpaw matched a career high with 10 strikeouts.

Bartels led the Red Storm offense in game one, as he went 3-for-4 and tied a career high with four RBIs.

Marty Higgins tallied his third three-hit game of the year, going 3-for-4 with a run scored.

Ryan Hogan and Mitchell Henshaw each tallied a pair of hits, two runs scored and an RBI.

Nick Cirelli posted a double and two RBIs while Justin Folz singled and drove in a run. Brian Morrell also singled in the opener.

The Johnnies inflicted some early damage in the top of the first. Bartels led off the game with a single before scoring on a Hogan double to right-center in the next at-bat. After a Morrell base knock moved Hogan to third, the graduate student came home on an RBI grounder off the bat of Cirelli, giving the Red Storm a 2-0 lead after a half-inning of play.

Butler looked poised to cut into the St. John's lead in the bottom of the second, but Mondak struck out the side to leave the bases loaded and keep the Bulldogs off the board.

The Red Storm added another run in the third, as Hogan laced a leadoff single before coming around to score on a Cirelli double two batters later.

Mondak stranded a pair of runners in scoring position again in the bottom of the fourth, striking out the side to escape a jam.

Leading 3-0 after five, the Johnnies blew the game open with a four-run top of the sixth. The Red Storm loaded the bases with no outs before Henshaw was hit by a pitch and Bartels ripped a two-run single, pushing the St. John's lead to 6-0. After a double play, Folz added another RBI base knock to convert the extra point and push the Red Storm advantage to seven.

The Johnnies weren't done in the seventh, as Higgins and Henshaw singled and advanced on a wild pitch to set up a two-run single by Bartels.

Game Two

Murphy got the ball for the Red Storm in game two and followed up Mondak's performance well, recording seven of his ten outs via the strikeout and allowing just two hits over 4.2 scoreless innings of work.

Vincent Bianchi led the Red Storm offense in the contest, going 3-3 at the dish with two RBIs and adding a sacrifice fly. He, combined with Colin Wetterau and Chris Conniff at the bottom of the team's order, went 7-12 and drove in all four of the team's runs.

After a scoreless first, the Red Storm offense got going in the second, as consecutive RBI singles from Wetterau and Bianchi with one out plated Cirelli and Higgins to give the Johnnies the 2-0 advantage.

Murphy settled in early on the bump, striking out two in the second and all three Bulldogs he faced in the third to keep the lead intact, 2-0.

After two singles from Higgins and Wetterau in the road half of the fourth, a sacrifice fly from Bianchi sent Higgins home to extend the Red Storm's lead to 3-0.

After working four quick innings, Murphy, who walked four on the afternoon, ran into some trouble in the home half of the fifth. With one already gone in the frame, Head Coach Mike Hampton called on freshman Geoff Mosseau, who induced a double play ball to end the threat and put him in line for the victory.

The Bulldogs threatened a few more times in the middle innings, as Mosseau loaded the bases with two walks and a hit by pitch in the sixth before fellow freshman Nick Guzzi entered and got an infield fly out and a lineout to end the frame and keep St. John's ahead, 3-0, after six.

Guzzi put two aboard in the home half of the seventh but worked out of trouble before the Johnnies' offense got their relief pitchers some more insurance in the eighth. Bianchi led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw before a single from Conniff sent him home, extending the lead to 4-0.

Joe Joe Rodriguez fanned two in a scoreless eighth before Ethan Routzahn came on in the ninth in a non-save situation and recorded got two ground balls and a fly ball in a flawless inning to finish off the Bulldogs.

The final two contests of this four-game set will be played tomorrow afternoon as a doubleheader with first pitch in game one slated for 1 p.m. Both matchups will be streamed via Butler's YouTube channel.