St. John's University Athletics
Thursday, May 20
Queens, N.Y. (Jack Kaiser Stadium)
6 p.m.
St. John's University
vs
Villanova
St. John’s to Welcome Villanova Starting on Thursday
5/18/2021 8:58:00 PM | Baseball
Red Storm and Wildcats will close the regular season with a three-game set
The St. John's baseball team will wrap its 2021 season this week when it welcomes Villanova to Jack Kaiser Stadium for a three-game series. The Red Storm and the Wildcats will meet on Thursday night at 6 p.m. before playing single games on Friday and Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Prior to the first pitch of Thursday night's series opener, the Red Storm will honor the accomplishments of 10 graduating student-athletes and two team managers in an on-field ceremony.
The Red Storm will look to end the season on a high note after taking three of four from Butler this past weekend in Indianapolis for the squad's first BIG EAST series victory of the spring. The Johnnies dominated a Friday doubleheader, blanking the Bulldogs by a combined margin of 13-0 over 16 innings. Butler then took the first game of Saturday's doubleheader behind a complete-game two-hitter from Nick Eaton before the Johnnies rebounded for a 9-4 victory in the series finale.
Staff ace Nick Mondak highlighted a slew of stellar pitching performances against the Bulldogs. In the Friday opener, the redshirt junior from Watertown, Conn., scattered three hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch over 6.0 scoreless innings while matching a career-high with 10 strikeouts. Mondak was rewarded with a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the second time this season and the third time overall during his collegiate career. Mondak lowered his ERA on the season to 1.53, good enough for second among starting pitchers in the BIG EAST behind Villanova's Gordon Graceffo, his Thursday night counterpart. Through games played on Monday, Mondak, who has allowed just one earned run in his last 22.0 innings pitched, ranks 10th nationally in ERA among qualifying pitchers. Graceffo ranks fifth
In addition to their dominance on the mound, the Johnnies also outperformed many of their season averages at the dish. The Red Storm posted nine runs twice in four tries, matching a single-game high for BIG EAST play. The Johnnies, who entered the weekend hitting just .241, batted .279 as a team despite being limited to just two hits in game three of the series. Leading the way individually was Justin Folz, who went 5-for-11 (.455) in three starts with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. The redshirt junior from Monroe, Wash., also walked twice and was hit by a pitch to reach base at a .571 clip.
St. John's will miss the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 2003, ending a conference-record streak of 16 consecutive championship appearances. The top four teams in the league standings—Creighton, Seton Hall, Connecticut and Xavier— have clinched their postseason spots heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The Red Storm will look to avoid finishing the season with a losing record for just the third time since World War II. The Johnnies finished 9-10 under Head Coach Frank McGuire in 1951 and went 23-35 in 2013 a year after reaching the NCAA Super Regionals and losing four players to the top six rounds of the MLB Draft.
Villanova enters its final set of the season on the heels of a series loss at home to Connecticut. The Wildcats took the Friday opener from the Huskies behind a stellar effort from Graceffo, who improved to 7-2 on the season after striking out 12 and walking none in 8.0 innings of two-run work. That win marked the fifth straight BIG EAST victory for the Wildcats, who won six of seven after starting conference play with a record of 1-8.
Offensively, the Wildcats are hitting .222 as a team. Junior infielder Nick Lorusso leads the way with a .313 batting average followed closely by graduate student first baseman Ryan Toohers at .292. Junior center fielder Chris Rotondo has hit half of the team's 14 home runs and sports a team-high slugging percentage of .589.
Citing roster limitations, Villanova is the only BIG EAST team that has not played a four-game series this conference season. The Wildcats are 7-11 overall in conference play, .002 percentage points behind St. John's (9-14) in fifth.
St. John's owns a 58-29 advantage all-time over the Wildcats dating back to 1960, including wins in nine of the last 11 meetings between the two teams.
In 2019, St. John's rebounded from a series-opening loss to win back-to-back outings, including a 24-6 victory in game two. Mike Antico went 4-for-4 with a double, three home runs and seven RBIs in that game while Ryan Markey belted a grand slam.
The year prior, St. John's swept a three-game set from the Wildcats in Plymouth Meeting, allowing only six runs over the course of the weekend.
Prior to the first pitch of Thursday night's series opener, the Red Storm will honor the accomplishments of 10 graduating student-athletes and two team managers in an on-field ceremony.
The Red Storm will look to end the season on a high note after taking three of four from Butler this past weekend in Indianapolis for the squad's first BIG EAST series victory of the spring. The Johnnies dominated a Friday doubleheader, blanking the Bulldogs by a combined margin of 13-0 over 16 innings. Butler then took the first game of Saturday's doubleheader behind a complete-game two-hitter from Nick Eaton before the Johnnies rebounded for a 9-4 victory in the series finale.
Staff ace Nick Mondak highlighted a slew of stellar pitching performances against the Bulldogs. In the Friday opener, the redshirt junior from Watertown, Conn., scattered three hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch over 6.0 scoreless innings while matching a career-high with 10 strikeouts. Mondak was rewarded with a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the second time this season and the third time overall during his collegiate career. Mondak lowered his ERA on the season to 1.53, good enough for second among starting pitchers in the BIG EAST behind Villanova's Gordon Graceffo, his Thursday night counterpart. Through games played on Monday, Mondak, who has allowed just one earned run in his last 22.0 innings pitched, ranks 10th nationally in ERA among qualifying pitchers. Graceffo ranks fifth
In addition to their dominance on the mound, the Johnnies also outperformed many of their season averages at the dish. The Red Storm posted nine runs twice in four tries, matching a single-game high for BIG EAST play. The Johnnies, who entered the weekend hitting just .241, batted .279 as a team despite being limited to just two hits in game three of the series. Leading the way individually was Justin Folz, who went 5-for-11 (.455) in three starts with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. The redshirt junior from Monroe, Wash., also walked twice and was hit by a pitch to reach base at a .571 clip.
St. John's will miss the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 2003, ending a conference-record streak of 16 consecutive championship appearances. The top four teams in the league standings—Creighton, Seton Hall, Connecticut and Xavier— have clinched their postseason spots heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The Red Storm will look to avoid finishing the season with a losing record for just the third time since World War II. The Johnnies finished 9-10 under Head Coach Frank McGuire in 1951 and went 23-35 in 2013 a year after reaching the NCAA Super Regionals and losing four players to the top six rounds of the MLB Draft.
Villanova enters its final set of the season on the heels of a series loss at home to Connecticut. The Wildcats took the Friday opener from the Huskies behind a stellar effort from Graceffo, who improved to 7-2 on the season after striking out 12 and walking none in 8.0 innings of two-run work. That win marked the fifth straight BIG EAST victory for the Wildcats, who won six of seven after starting conference play with a record of 1-8.
Offensively, the Wildcats are hitting .222 as a team. Junior infielder Nick Lorusso leads the way with a .313 batting average followed closely by graduate student first baseman Ryan Toohers at .292. Junior center fielder Chris Rotondo has hit half of the team's 14 home runs and sports a team-high slugging percentage of .589.
Citing roster limitations, Villanova is the only BIG EAST team that has not played a four-game series this conference season. The Wildcats are 7-11 overall in conference play, .002 percentage points behind St. John's (9-14) in fifth.
St. John's owns a 58-29 advantage all-time over the Wildcats dating back to 1960, including wins in nine of the last 11 meetings between the two teams.
In 2019, St. John's rebounded from a series-opening loss to win back-to-back outings, including a 24-6 victory in game two. Mike Antico went 4-for-4 with a double, three home runs and seven RBIs in that game while Ryan Markey belted a grand slam.
The year prior, St. John's swept a three-game set from the Wildcats in Plymouth Meeting, allowing only six runs over the course of the weekend.
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
INF
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OF/2B
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LHP
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