St. John’s Splits Saturday Doubleheader with Butler, Claims Series

Saturday, May 15

Indianapolis, Ind. (Bulldog Park)

1 p.m.

St. John's University

17-19, 8-14

Butler

11-21, 5-11

St. John's

Butler

St. John’s Splits Saturday Doubleheader with Butler, Claims Series

5/15/2021 9:27:00 PM | Baseball

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

Red Storm picks up first series victory of amended BIG EAST season

After dominating Friday's opening doubleheader with a pair of shutout victories, the St. John's baseball team split a Saturday twin bill with Butler at Bulldog Park to claim a 3-1 series victory, the team's first of this unconventional conference season.

With one regular season series remaining, the Red Storm sports an overall record of 18-19, including a 9-14 mark in BIG EAST play. The Bulldogs moved to 11-22, 5-12 in the BIG EAST, following Saturday's action.

Game One

The Red Storm fell in an early hole and could not climb out in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader, losing to Butler, 4-1, in seven innings.

Butler southpaw Nick Eaton tossed a complete game two-hitter. He walked none, hit a batter and struck out three for his second win of the season.

After St. John's went down 1-2-3 in the top of the inning, the Bulldogs plated three runs in the bottom of the first. The first three Butler batters of the game reached base, the last of whom was Dan Harwood. Harwood laced an RBI double to right center before Freddie Matos and Andy Bennet produced back-to-back run-scoring groundouts.

In the following frame, David Williams was hit by a pitch with one out before coming around to score on a David Glancy RBI double to left, cutting the Red Storm's deficit to two.

Carson Bartels singled with one out in the top of the third, but he would be the final Red Storm batter to reach base in game one, as Eaton retired the last 14 Johnnies he faced.

Game Two

In the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, the Red Storm once again fell in an early hole following a productive first inning for the home side. In this game, however, the Johnnies were able to battle back, downing the Bulldogs, 9-4, and claiming the series victory.

Redshirt junior outfielder Brian Morrell matched a career high with three hits, going 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

Justin Folz reached base four separate times, singling twice and recording a pair of walks. The redshirt junior came around to score twice.

Three different Johnnies collected two-RBI singles: Chris Conniff, Colin Wetterau and Vincent Bianchi. Conniff, a freshman from Norco, Calif., singled twice for his third multi-hit game of the season.

Marty Higgins and Ryan Hogan both collected a hit and drove in a run. Higgins also scored twice for the Red Storm.

On the mound, Tim Cunningham was credited with his first collegiate win after striking out three in 2.0 innings of scoreless relief. Freshman right-hander Tyler Roche left with the lead after allowing two runs in 4.2 innings of work, but did not go the five full frames necessary to record the win. Joe Joe Rodriguez and Ethan Routzahn combined for 2.1 innings of one-run relief to close the game.

Roche faced some trouble early, hitting the game's first batter and walking the next two to load the bases with no out in the bottom of the first. Thanks in large part to an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play, Roche held the Bulldogs to just one run on a Matos sac fly, limiting the Bulldogs' advantage to one after one inning.

Aaron Steinhart hit a solo homer with one out in the third, pushing the Butler lead to a pair.

After tallying just one hit through the first three innings, the Red Storm offense found its rhythm in the fourth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Wetterau smacked a two-run single to center to knot the game at two. After a walk to Bianchi loaded the bases again, Conniff delivered a two-RBI single up the middle to put the Red Storm on top for the first time on the afternoon.

St. John's added on single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to make it a 6-2 game. Higgins delivered an RBI infield single in the seventh before Hogan belted an RBI double to center in the eighth.

Butler cut its deficit back to three with a run in the eighth before the Johnnies tacked on three more for good measure in the top of the ninth. Folz, who led off the frame with a single, scored on a wild pitch before Bianchi came through with a two-RBI base knock.

The Bulldogs added an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth to make it 9-4.

The Red Storm will return to action next week against Villanova for the final series of the 2021 regular season. The series will run from Thursday-Saturday and is currently set for four games.