St. John's University Athletics
Wednesday, May 11
Queens, N.Y. (Jack Kaiser Stadium)
6 p.m.
St. John's University
20-27-1
9
vs
2
Iona
5-39
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9
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E
Iona
0
1
0
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1
St. John's
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4
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9
12
0
St. John’s Races Past Iona, 9-2
5/11/2022 9:44:00 PM | Baseball
Tate Ballestero went 3-for-5 with three RBIs on Wednesday
QUEENS, N.Y.- An offensive barrage powered the St. John's baseball team to a 9-2 win over Iona at Jack Kaiser Stadium on Wednesday evening.
After being named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday, Tate Ballestero put together another impressive outing at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs. The redshirt sophomore has now tallied two or more hits in 19 games this season, most on the team.
Nick Cirelli notched two doubles with an RBI and three runs scored on Wednesday while Jackson Tucker tallied two RBIs and a run scored against the Gaels.
Colin Wetterau and Carlos Hidalgo accounted for an RBI apiece, and Kevin Michaels and Jermaine White each crossed the plate once in the convincing win.
On the mound, Joe Mascio picked up his team-leading fourth win of the season for St. John's (20-27-1), tossing two perfect innings as a part of six straight scoreless frames by Red Storm pitching.
After a scoreless opening frame, Iona grabbed the lead in the top of the second, 1-0. Brad Polinsky led off the inning with a double to the gap in right center before scoring a sac fly by right-fielder Will Jennings to put the Gaels in front early.
St. John's responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the third to knot the game at one. Conniff got the rally started by beating out an infield hit to the shortstop. After advancing to third on two productive outs, Conniff trotted home on a Ballestero RBI single through the left side of the infield.
The Red Storm opened the game up in the bottom of the fourth with four runs to lead, 5-1. With the bases loaded and two outs, Tucker laced a line-drive single to right that plated two runs to vault the Johnnies in front, 3-1. After another walk reloaded the bases, Ballestero continued his hot streak with a ground-rule double that brought home two more tallies for the home side.
St. John's scored for the third straight inning in the bottom of the fifth to widen the gap, 6-1. Cirelli doubled to right center before scoring on a Hidalgo single that found the left-field turf to make it a five-run ballgame.
After a scoreless sixth, the Johnnies tacked on three more insurance runs in the home half of the seventh to expand the advantage to 9-1. Following a Michaels walk, Cirelli hit his second double of the night to score the seventh run of the contest for the Red Storm. After a pinch-hit base hit by Jermaine White put runners on the corners with one out, Wetterau lifted a sac fly to center to add one more. White stole second then scored on an infield hit and a throwing error by the Iona shortstop to make it 9-1 after seven innings.
The Gaels attempted a late comeback in the ninth after Polinsky hit his second double of the evening to cut the Red Storm lead to 9-2, but Vincent Bianchi was able to extinguish the threat and complete the season sweep of Iona.
St. John's will be back in action on Friday when it begins its final home series of 2022 against BIG EAST rival Georgetown. First pitch from Jack Kaiser Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m.
After being named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday, Tate Ballestero put together another impressive outing at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs. The redshirt sophomore has now tallied two or more hits in 19 games this season, most on the team.
Nick Cirelli notched two doubles with an RBI and three runs scored on Wednesday while Jackson Tucker tallied two RBIs and a run scored against the Gaels.
Colin Wetterau and Carlos Hidalgo accounted for an RBI apiece, and Kevin Michaels and Jermaine White each crossed the plate once in the convincing win.
On the mound, Joe Mascio picked up his team-leading fourth win of the season for St. John's (20-27-1), tossing two perfect innings as a part of six straight scoreless frames by Red Storm pitching.
After a scoreless opening frame, Iona grabbed the lead in the top of the second, 1-0. Brad Polinsky led off the inning with a double to the gap in right center before scoring a sac fly by right-fielder Will Jennings to put the Gaels in front early.
St. John's responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the third to knot the game at one. Conniff got the rally started by beating out an infield hit to the shortstop. After advancing to third on two productive outs, Conniff trotted home on a Ballestero RBI single through the left side of the infield.
The Red Storm opened the game up in the bottom of the fourth with four runs to lead, 5-1. With the bases loaded and two outs, Tucker laced a line-drive single to right that plated two runs to vault the Johnnies in front, 3-1. After another walk reloaded the bases, Ballestero continued his hot streak with a ground-rule double that brought home two more tallies for the home side.
St. John's scored for the third straight inning in the bottom of the fifth to widen the gap, 6-1. Cirelli doubled to right center before scoring on a Hidalgo single that found the left-field turf to make it a five-run ballgame.
After a scoreless sixth, the Johnnies tacked on three more insurance runs in the home half of the seventh to expand the advantage to 9-1. Following a Michaels walk, Cirelli hit his second double of the night to score the seventh run of the contest for the Red Storm. After a pinch-hit base hit by Jermaine White put runners on the corners with one out, Wetterau lifted a sac fly to center to add one more. White stole second then scored on an infield hit and a throwing error by the Iona shortstop to make it 9-1 after seven innings.
The Gaels attempted a late comeback in the ninth after Polinsky hit his second double of the evening to cut the Red Storm lead to 9-2, but Vincent Bianchi was able to extinguish the threat and complete the season sweep of Iona.
St. John's will be back in action on Friday when it begins its final home series of 2022 against BIG EAST rival Georgetown. First pitch from Jack Kaiser Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mascio, Joe (4-1)
L: Untracht, Michael (2-3)
Batting:
2B: Polinsky, Brad 2
RBI: Polinsky, Brad 1 ; Jennings, Will 1
SF: Jennings, Will 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Forney, Nick 1 ; Polinsky, Brad 1
HBP: Mariani, Chris 1
PO: Polinsky, Brad 1
Batting:
2B: Ballestero, Tate 2 ; Cirelli, Nick 2
RBI: Tucker, Jackson 2 ; Ballestero, Tate 3 ; Cirelli, Nick 1 ; Wetterau, Colin 1 ; Hidalgo, Carlos 1
SF: Wetterau, Colin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tucker, Jackson 1 ; Michaels, Kevin 1 ; Cirelli, Nick 3 ; White, Jermaine 1 ; Hidalgo, Carlos 1 ; Conniff, Chris 2
SB: Tucker, Jackson 1 ; White, Jermaine 1 ; Hidalgo, Carlos 1
CS: Hidalgo, Carlos 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
0
H
3
RBI
3
AB
3
R
3
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
C/INF
/ Baseball
INF/P
/ Baseball1B
/ Baseball
OF/RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
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INF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
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/ Baseball
OF
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