Red Storm Readies for Four-Game Set with UConn

The St. John's baseball team will return to action on Friday when it begins a four-game set against Connecticut in Queens. Friday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m. followed by a 12 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. All four games will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

St. John's (14-15, 5-10 BIG EAST) will look to climb back above .500 when it welcomes the Huskies (20-14, 4-2 BIG EAST) to Queens. St. John's has only finished with a losing record twice in a full season since World War II. The 1951 squad went 9-10 under Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Frank McGuire 62 years before the 2013 team went 23-35 a season after advancing to an NCAA Super Regional.

A strong showing against the Huskies would also go a long way to aiding the Red Storm's postseason chances. Currently, the Johnnies' BIG EAST record of 5-10 puts the team in sixth place in the conference standings, three and a half games behind Xavier in fourth. Only the top four teams qualify for the BIG EAST Baseball Championship to be held at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, on Memorial Day Weekend. The Johnnies have qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament every year since 2004, a league-record streak of 16 consecutive appearances. Due to incosistencies in the league-wide schedule due to COVID pauses, the final regular season standings will be determined by winning percentage.

This past weekend, the Red Storm dropped three of four in Omaha to Creighton. The Bluejays took the Friday opener, 6-1, before the teams split a Saturday doubleheader at TD Ameritrade Park. The Sunday series finale also went in favor of Creighton, who sits atop the BIG EAST standings with a conference record of 9-2. St. John's grabbed the first lead in three of its four games against the Bluejays.

The Red Storm's starting pitching put forth some solid performances at the home of the College World Series, as the Johnnies' four starters combined to allowed just seven earned runs in 17.1 innings of work, good enough for a 3.63 ERA. Nick Mondak allowed no earned runs in five innings, Brian Hendry struck out eight in 5.2 frames of one-run work and Matt Semon retired the first nine batters he faced. The bullpen struggled to keep the Bluejays off the board, however, as Red Storm relievers surrendered 14 earned runs in 13.2 frames.

The Johnnies performed better than their season average at the dish against Creighton with three players hitting better than .400. Brian Morrell batted .429 (6-for-14) and drove in four runs, including a career-high three RBIs in Sunday's finale. The Notre Dame transfer is hitting a team-high .393 against BIG EAST opponents. Redshirt freshmen Vincent Bianchi and Marty Higgins both hit .400 (5-for-16) against the Bluejays with a pair of runs scored. Two of Higgins' six hits were doubles, as the Nutley, N.J., native has now doubled five times in his last eight games. Higgins has reached base in all 15 BIG EAST contests for St. John's this season while Bianchi has gotten on safely in 14 straight.

UConn returns to Jack Kaiser Stadium for the first time since 2018, when the Red Storm and the Huskies played a three-game set in mid-March. St. John's took the Friday opener in dominant fashion, 14-4, against Collegiate National Team member and eventual second round draft pick Tim Cate before dropping tight affairs on Saturday and Sunday by scores of 1-0 and 3-1, respectively. Both St. John's and UConn went on to earn berths in the NCAA Tournament that season. That 2018 series was the only time the two teams met during the Huskies' seven-year tenure in the American Athletic Conference.

St. John's is 59-57 against Connecticut dating back to 1956 with a vast majority of those games coming during UConn's first BIG EAST stint from 1985-2013. Included in that mark is a 5-1 record in BIG EAST Tournament games, including championship clinching wins for the Johnnies in 1993 and 2010.

The Huskies come to Queens having won 15 of their last 18 games. Only six of those games have been against BIG EAST foes, as the Huskies have had one league series shortened and two canceled. This past weekend after seeing its BIG EAST series with Butler canceled, UConn swept a two-game set form Bucknell. The Huskies took the opener, 9-1, before closing out the weekend with a 13-6 victory on Sunday.

Friday starter Austin Peterson has been tough to hit this season, as he enters the weekend with a record of 5-1 to go along with a 2.86 ERA. He's fanned 54 batters while issuing just 13 walks while limiting opponents to a .187 batting average.

UConn is led offensively by sophomore outfielder Kyler Fedko, who tops the team and the conference with a .413 batting average and is tied for the league lead with seven home runs. Four other everyday players are hitting north of the .300 mark, including redshirt freshman outfielder Kevin Ferrer at .346. As a team, the Huskies are hitting a BIG-EAST-best .293.

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Players Mentioned

Vincent Bianchi

Brian Hendry

Marty Higgins

Nick Mondak

Brian Morrell

Matt Semon

St. John's University Athletics