St. John’s Drops Series Finale to Tulane

Sunday, February 26

New Orleans, La. (Greer Field at Turchin Stadium)

2 p.m.

St. John's University

3-3

Tulane

1-6

St. John's

Tulane

2/26/2023 5:18:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Live Stats (Monday)Watch (Monday)

Paul Orbon smacks first home run of the season in Sunday’s setback

NEW YORK – The St. John's baseball team dropped its series finale to Tulane, 9-3, at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Left fielder Paul Orbon tallied a pair of RBIs on Sunday, belting his first home run of the season while Austin Machado drove in the team's only other run on a double in the sixth. The New Hyde Park, N.Y., native finished the three-game slate with five hits, three RBIs and two runs scored.

Sophomore Jackson Tucker reached base safely for the 25^th straight game with a 1-for-2 day at the dish with a walk. Blake Mayberry recorded his first multi-hit contest with the Red Storm, going 2-for-3 after entering the game in the fifth.

Tulane (1-6) tallied six unanswered runs out of the gate while starter Ricky Castro tossed two perfect frames to start the game.

With St. John's (3-3) trailing, 6-0, Jeremiah and Tucker broke up the perfect game with respective walks but could not score in the top of the third. In the following frame, pinch hitter Jimmy Keenan roped a double into the left-field corner to register the team's first hit of the afternoon but Castro shut down the threat again.

The Green Wave tacked on one more run in the fourth on an RBI groundout to take a seven-run lead.

The Red Storm broke through in the top of the fifth following a Blake Mayberry pinch hit double. Two batters later, Orbon launched a 1-0 pitch to deep left for a two-run shot, cutting St. John's deficit to five, 7-2.

Tulane countered with a solo home run off the bat of Chase Engelhard to take an 8-2 lead through five innings.

The Red Storm struck again in the sixth, this time with Machado driving a 1-2 pitch into the right-field corner for an RBI double that plated Aaron Mann from first for an 8-3 advantage.

After seeing the Green Wave add another run in the home half of the sixth, 9-3, both teams were held off the board in the seventh inning.

Johnnies' reliever Louis Marinaro saw the minimum six batters in his two innings of work, allowing just one walk, striking out three and forcing the team's second double play of the game to complete his outing.

St. John's wraps up its trip in the Bayou State on Monday, heading to Hammond for a 7 p.m. contest against Southeastern Louisiana. Monday's contest will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available on RedStormSports.com.

The Lions are coming off of its first loss of the year to Samford, dropping their Sunday matinee by an identical 9-3 score and snapping a seven-game winning streak to start 2023.

Redshirt senior Champ Artigues paces the Southeastern Louisiana lineup with a .414 average and 12 hits this season. Shea Thomas has driven in a team-best 13 runs while Tyler Finke has been knocked in squad-leading 17 times.

Head Coach Matt Riser has guided his offense to 96 runs through eight games, hitting .279 and swiping 33 bases. The 10-year skipper of the Lions has also received stellar output from his relievers with five Lions not allowing an earned run, including two outings from closer Dalton Aspholm which both resulted in a save.