St. John's University Athletics
Thursday, May 20
Queens, N.Y. (Jack Kaiser Stadium)
6 p.m.
St. John's University
18-20, 9-15
4
vs
5
Villanova
20-13, 8-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Villanova
0
1
0
0
2
1
0
0
1
5
10
1
St. John's
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
4
10
1
St. John’s Drops Series Opener, 5-4, to Villanova
5/20/2021 10:12:00 PM | Baseball
Wildcats scored game-winning run in the top of the ninth
Trailing by one with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a last-ditch Red Storm rally fell short, as Villanova hung on for a 5-4 victory on Thursday night at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
St. John's tied the game with a two-run double off the bat of Jake Lazzaro in the bottom of the seventh, but Villanova pushed across the game-winning run in the top of the ninth. Lazzaro went 2-for-4, as did Carson Bartels, Colin Wetterau and Marty Higgins.
Brian Morrell and Justin Folz also drove in runs for the Johnnies (18-20, 9-15 BIG EAST).
Nick Mondak made the start on Senior Night, striking out seven over 6.2 innings of four-run work. The redshirt junior southpaw finished the season with a 1.92 ERA.
In the bottom of the first, Bartels was hit by a pitch to start off the frame. Next up was Ryan Hogan, who hit a ground ball to the third baseman that looked like it might turn into a 5-4-3 twin-killing. Instead the ball bounced off the second baseman's glove and into center field, allowing Bartels to take third and Hogan to move to second. Morrell brought home Bartels with an RBI groundout before Folz laced a base knock into right center, scoring Hogan and putting the Johnnies ahead 2-0.
Villanova answered right back with a run in the top of the second, as Will Reiner registered a one-out single before coming home two batters later on a Cameron Hassert double to left center.
After facing just six St. John's batters in the third and fourth innings combined, Villanova climbed ahead in the top of the fifth. AJ Hansen poked a one-out single to center before a fly ball to left off the bat of Nick Lorusso sailed over the fence and put the Wildcats ahead 3-2.
Villanova tacked on another run in the sixth on three straight singles, the last of which was an RBI knock from John Whooley.
After sending only three batters to the plate in innings three through six, the Johnnies struck back in the home half of the seventh. Brandon Miller drew a leadoff walk before back-to-back singles from Higgins and Wetterau loaded the bases and chased Villanova starter Gordon Graceffo from the game. With Jimmy Kingsbury now on the mound, Lazzaro smacked a two-run double down the left field line, scoring Miller and Higgins and tying the game at four. With the score knotted and two runners in scoring position with no outs, the Red Storm was unable to push across the go-ahead run, as Kingsbury worked consecutive shallow pop flies and a swinging strikeout to end the inning.
After both sides went down in order in the eighth, Whooley led off the top of the ninth with a walk before moving to second on a Hansen sac bunt. Two batters later, Lorusso singled to center to bring home Whooley and put the Wildcats up 5-4.
The first two batters of the St. John's ninth went down in order before the Red Storm kicked off a two-out rally. Lazzaro singled up the middle before going first to third on a Bartels base knock to right, putting the game-tying run 90 feet from home. Hogan, however, went down looking on the game's final at-bat.
The Red Storm and the Wildcats will resume their series tomorrow afternoon at Jack Kaiser Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
St. John's tied the game with a two-run double off the bat of Jake Lazzaro in the bottom of the seventh, but Villanova pushed across the game-winning run in the top of the ninth. Lazzaro went 2-for-4, as did Carson Bartels, Colin Wetterau and Marty Higgins.
Brian Morrell and Justin Folz also drove in runs for the Johnnies (18-20, 9-15 BIG EAST).
Nick Mondak made the start on Senior Night, striking out seven over 6.2 innings of four-run work. The redshirt junior southpaw finished the season with a 1.92 ERA.
In the bottom of the first, Bartels was hit by a pitch to start off the frame. Next up was Ryan Hogan, who hit a ground ball to the third baseman that looked like it might turn into a 5-4-3 twin-killing. Instead the ball bounced off the second baseman's glove and into center field, allowing Bartels to take third and Hogan to move to second. Morrell brought home Bartels with an RBI groundout before Folz laced a base knock into right center, scoring Hogan and putting the Johnnies ahead 2-0.
Villanova answered right back with a run in the top of the second, as Will Reiner registered a one-out single before coming home two batters later on a Cameron Hassert double to left center.
After facing just six St. John's batters in the third and fourth innings combined, Villanova climbed ahead in the top of the fifth. AJ Hansen poked a one-out single to center before a fly ball to left off the bat of Nick Lorusso sailed over the fence and put the Wildcats ahead 3-2.
Villanova tacked on another run in the sixth on three straight singles, the last of which was an RBI knock from John Whooley.
After sending only three batters to the plate in innings three through six, the Johnnies struck back in the home half of the seventh. Brandon Miller drew a leadoff walk before back-to-back singles from Higgins and Wetterau loaded the bases and chased Villanova starter Gordon Graceffo from the game. With Jimmy Kingsbury now on the mound, Lazzaro smacked a two-run double down the left field line, scoring Miller and Higgins and tying the game at four. With the score knotted and two runners in scoring position with no outs, the Red Storm was unable to push across the go-ahead run, as Kingsbury worked consecutive shallow pop flies and a swinging strikeout to end the inning.
After both sides went down in order in the eighth, Whooley led off the top of the ninth with a walk before moving to second on a Hansen sac bunt. Two batters later, Lorusso singled to center to bring home Whooley and put the Wildcats up 5-4.
The first two batters of the St. John's ninth went down in order before the Red Storm kicked off a two-out rally. Lazzaro singled up the middle before going first to third on a Bartels base knock to right, putting the game-tying run 90 feet from home. Hogan, however, went down looking on the game's final at-bat.
The Red Storm and the Wildcats will resume their series tomorrow afternoon at Jack Kaiser Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kingsbury, J (5-4)
L: Guzzi, Nick (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Hassert, C. 1
HR: Lorusso, N. 1
RBI: Lorusso, N. 3 ; Hassert, C. 1 ; Whooley, J. 1
SH: Hansen, AJ 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lorusso, N. 1 ; Reiner, W. 1 ; Margulis, S. 1 ; Whooley, J. 1 ; Hansen, AJ 1
SB: Rotondo, C. 1
Batting:
2B: Lazzaro, Jake 1
RBI: Morrell, Brian 1 ; Folz, Justin 1 ; Lazzaro, Jake 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Bartels, Carson 1 ; Hogan, Ryan 1 ; Miller, Brandon 1 ; Higgins, Marty 1
HBP: Bartels, Carson 1
PO: Higgins, Marty 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
C/OF
/ BaseballIF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP/OF
/ BaseballC
/ BaseballSt. John's Baseball vs Villanova Highlights 5.11.25
Sunday, May 11
St. John's Baseball vs Villanova Highlights 5.10.25
Saturday, May 10
St. John's Baseball vs Iona Highlights 4.29.2025
Tuesday, April 29
St. John's Baseball vs Rutgers Highlights 4.22.2025
Tuesday, April 22