St. John's University Athletics
Saturday, February 19
Wilmington, N.C. (Brooks Field)
12 p.m.
St. John's University
1-1
6
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5
Middle Tennessee
1-2
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5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
St. John's
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0
0
4
2
0
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6
12
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Middle Tennessee St.
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5
9
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St. John’s Splits Saturday Doubleheader with Middle Tennessee State and UNC Wilmington
2/19/2022 9:25:00 PM | Baseball
The Red Storm earned its first win of the season over the Blue Raiders
WILMINGTON, N.C.- The St. John's baseball team split a doubleheader against Middle Tennessee State and UNC Wilmington at Brooks Field on Saturday. The Red Storm moved to 1-2 on the season.
Game One
The Red Storm scored six unanswered runs to erase a five-run deficit and win the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader over Middle Tennessee State, 6-5.
Tate Ballestero and Kevin Michaels tied for the team lead in hits with a career-high three apiece. Michaels and Nick Cirelli each knocked in two runs while Ballestero and Marty Higgins crossed home plate twice. Michaels and Colin Wetterau each had a double against the Blue Raiders.
On the mound, Dylan Johnson earned his first collegiate win after striking out two in 4.0 innings of scoreless relief. Ben Adams made the first start of his collegiate career. The sophomore out of Ottawa, Ontario, threw 4.0 innings, striking out two and allowing only one earned run. Joe Joe Rodriguez tallied his first save of the year with a scoreless ninth inning.
Adams ran into some trouble early, hitting the first batter he faced before allowing a single and a sacrifice fly in the next two at-bats to put the Red Storm down 2-0. Adams was able to settle down and retire the next two batters to limit the damage in the first.
The Blue Raiders added three more in the bottom of the third to push the lead to 5-0.
St. John's responded in the following half-inning by plating four runs of its own. The Red Storm loaded the bases with no outs, and Cirelli capitalized on the opportunity with single to center that brought home Ballestero. Jermaine White followed up with a single of his own that plated two more in part due to an MTSU error. Michaels culminated the Johnnies' outburst with the team's third straight single to score Cirelli. After four innings, the deficit was cut to one run, 5-4.
In the top of the fifth, the Red Storm scored the decisive runs on the back of two more RBI base hits from Cirelli and Michaels.
Johnson relieved Adams in the bottom of the fifth and kept the Blue Raiders off the scoreboard for four innings. Rodriguez came on in the ninth and earned the save in his first appearance of the season.
Game Two
UNC Wilmington used a late offensive surge to outlast St. John's, 12-6, in a back-and-forth affair on Saturday evening.
Michaels, Ballestero and David Glancy each posted two-hit games. Four Johnnies recorded an RBI, including freshman Jackson Tucker. Michaels and Chris Conniff led the team with two runs scored each.
After a scoreless first inning, the Seahawks scored the first run of the contest in the bottom of the second after Noah Bridges stole third base and advanced home on a Red Storm error.
The Johnnies responded immediately in the top of the third when Michaels came around from second base to score after a Glancy infield single and a Seahawk throwing error.
UNCW reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth with two runs. The first three Seahawks of the inning reached base before Bridges scored from third on a Red Storm error. A sacrifice fly from Ethan Baucom tacked on another run to bring the lead to 3-1 after four innings of play.
The Red Storm counterpunched in the top of the fifth with three runs of its own to wrestle back the lead, 4-3. After a leadoff walk by Williams, the Johnnies, courtesy of Glancy, Ballestero and Jayson Kramer, ripped three straight two-out singles to plate three runs and give St. John's a one-run lead.
After a game-tying RBI groundout from Dillon Lifrieri in the bottom of the fifth, a Tucker single restored the Johnnies' one-run advantage in the top of the sixth. Conniff doubled the Red Storm lead to 6-4 by scoring on a wild pitch from the Seahawks' Carter Holijes.
UNCW responded with three more runs in the bottom of sixth to inch ahead of St. John's once more, 7-6. Lifrieri tallied an RBI double which Ron Evans followed up with a two-RBI single to give the Seahawks the lead after six innings.
The Seahawks tacked on two more runs in the seventh before posting three more in eighth.
The Red Storm will close out the season's opening weekend tomorrow when it faces UNCW at 11:30 a.m.
Game One
The Red Storm scored six unanswered runs to erase a five-run deficit and win the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader over Middle Tennessee State, 6-5.
Tate Ballestero and Kevin Michaels tied for the team lead in hits with a career-high three apiece. Michaels and Nick Cirelli each knocked in two runs while Ballestero and Marty Higgins crossed home plate twice. Michaels and Colin Wetterau each had a double against the Blue Raiders.
On the mound, Dylan Johnson earned his first collegiate win after striking out two in 4.0 innings of scoreless relief. Ben Adams made the first start of his collegiate career. The sophomore out of Ottawa, Ontario, threw 4.0 innings, striking out two and allowing only one earned run. Joe Joe Rodriguez tallied his first save of the year with a scoreless ninth inning.
Adams ran into some trouble early, hitting the first batter he faced before allowing a single and a sacrifice fly in the next two at-bats to put the Red Storm down 2-0. Adams was able to settle down and retire the next two batters to limit the damage in the first.
The Blue Raiders added three more in the bottom of the third to push the lead to 5-0.
St. John's responded in the following half-inning by plating four runs of its own. The Red Storm loaded the bases with no outs, and Cirelli capitalized on the opportunity with single to center that brought home Ballestero. Jermaine White followed up with a single of his own that plated two more in part due to an MTSU error. Michaels culminated the Johnnies' outburst with the team's third straight single to score Cirelli. After four innings, the deficit was cut to one run, 5-4.
In the top of the fifth, the Red Storm scored the decisive runs on the back of two more RBI base hits from Cirelli and Michaels.
Johnson relieved Adams in the bottom of the fifth and kept the Blue Raiders off the scoreboard for four innings. Rodriguez came on in the ninth and earned the save in his first appearance of the season.
Game Two
UNC Wilmington used a late offensive surge to outlast St. John's, 12-6, in a back-and-forth affair on Saturday evening.
Michaels, Ballestero and David Glancy each posted two-hit games. Four Johnnies recorded an RBI, including freshman Jackson Tucker. Michaels and Chris Conniff led the team with two runs scored each.
After a scoreless first inning, the Seahawks scored the first run of the contest in the bottom of the second after Noah Bridges stole third base and advanced home on a Red Storm error.
The Johnnies responded immediately in the top of the third when Michaels came around from second base to score after a Glancy infield single and a Seahawk throwing error.
UNCW reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth with two runs. The first three Seahawks of the inning reached base before Bridges scored from third on a Red Storm error. A sacrifice fly from Ethan Baucom tacked on another run to bring the lead to 3-1 after four innings of play.
The Red Storm counterpunched in the top of the fifth with three runs of its own to wrestle back the lead, 4-3. After a leadoff walk by Williams, the Johnnies, courtesy of Glancy, Ballestero and Jayson Kramer, ripped three straight two-out singles to plate three runs and give St. John's a one-run lead.
After a game-tying RBI groundout from Dillon Lifrieri in the bottom of the fifth, a Tucker single restored the Johnnies' one-run advantage in the top of the sixth. Conniff doubled the Red Storm lead to 6-4 by scoring on a wild pitch from the Seahawks' Carter Holijes.
UNCW responded with three more runs in the bottom of sixth to inch ahead of St. John's once more, 7-6. Lifrieri tallied an RBI double which Ron Evans followed up with a two-RBI single to give the Seahawks the lead after six innings.
The Seahawks tacked on two more runs in the seventh before posting three more in eighth.
The Red Storm will close out the season's opening weekend tomorrow when it faces UNCW at 11:30 a.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Johnson, Dylan (1-0)
L: James Sells (0-1)
S: Rodriguez, Joe Joe (1)
Batting:
2B: Wetterau, Colin 1 ; Michaels, Kevin 1
RBI: Cirelli, Nick 2 ; White, Jermaine 1 ; Michaels, Kevin 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Ballestero, Tate 2 ; Wetterau, Colin 1 ; Higgins, Marty 2 ; Cirelli, Nick 1
HBP: Conniff, Chris 1
Batting:
2B: JT Mabry 2
RBI: Fausto Lopez 2 ; Brett Coker 1 ; Briggs Rutter 1
SH: Jackson Galloway 1
SF: Fausto Lopez 1 ; Briggs Rutter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tatsunori Negishi 2 ; JT Mabry 2 ; Fausto Lopez 1
SB: Brett Coker 1 ; Bryce Symlar 1
CS: Luke Vinson 1
HBP: Tatsunori Negishi 1 ; Luke Vinson 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
C/INF
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INF
/ Baseball
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/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballINF
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RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
OF
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