St. John’s Dominates LIU, 22-3

Wednesday, March 15

Brookville, N.Y. (LIU Baseball Stadium)

3 p.m.

St. John's University

10-5

LIU

1-14

St. John's

LIU

Photo by: Christine Heeren

3/15/2023 8:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Red Storm tallies 20 or more runs for the first time in three years

BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (March 15, 2023) – With the wind swirling through chilly temperatures all afternoon, the St. John's baseball team powered its way to a 22-3 victory over LIU on Wednesday, picking up its 10^th win of the season.

The Red Storm (10-5) tallied 20 or more runs for the first time in over three years since toppling Saint Peter's, 21-1, in what ended up being the final game of the 2020 season on March 10. The team also logged more than 20 hits in a game in nearly five years when the Johnnies posted 31 against Xavier on April 28, 2018.

Of the 14 offensive players that made a plate appearance in Wednesday's contest, 13 scored at least one tally, eight posted multi-hit performances and six drove in two or more runs.

The threesome of Aaron Mann, Marty Higgins and Jimmy Keenan tallied three hits and two RBIs apiece. Kevin Michaels crossed home plate on three occasions while teammate Luke Orbon, who came on a pinch hitter in the fifth, also posted a trio of tallies himself.

After a scoreless opening frame, the Johnnies put up three runs in the second behind a pair of RBI singles from Paul Orbon and Tate Ballestero and another on a double steal. The Sharks capitalized with one in the home half, 3-1, scoring on a wild pitch.

St. John's bumped its lead to four, 5-1, in the top of the third, seeing Keenan slap a one-run double to right before Orbon brought Higgins around on an RBI groundout.

LIU (1-14) matched the Red Storm run total in the bottom of the third, tallying two runs in the frame and slashing its deficit back to two, 5-3.

It was all St. John's from that point forward, unleashing 17 unanswered runs over the final six innings. It started with a three-run fourth inning, beginning with back-to-back one-out triples by Ballestero and David Glancy before a Kevin Michaels sacrifice fly to left made it 7-3. In the ensuing at-bat, Mann launched a 3-2 pitch into the wind, sending it over the left-field wall for an 8-3 edge.

The Johnnies poured it on in the fifth, plating six runs on seven consecutive hits. After Keenan reached on a leadoff single, Jackson Tucker and Anthony Brienza rattled off back-to-back base knocks to load the bases with one out. After a pinch hit RBI single by Blake Mayberry, Luke Orbon drove in a pair on a pinch hit single of his own, taking an 11-3 lead. Michaels and Mann recorded two more RBI base knocks in the inning to secure a 14-3 edge.

Starter Mario Pesca posted three scoreless innings on Wednesday, finishing his five-frame performance by allowing just one earned run on four hits with five strikeouts to earn his first collegiate win. Reliever Ben Adams came on in the sixth inning and stifled the Sharks' lineup through the eighth, going three frames and punching out four.

Following a blank sixth, Keenan ripped an RBI double after Michaels laced a one-run single to right in the seventh that bumped the Red Storm lead to 13. St. John's tacked on one more tally in the eighth before a five-spot in the ninth lifted the Johnnies to a 19-run advantage.

Freshman Andrew Castelluccio came on in the ninth and kept the Sharks off balance with a trio of strikeouts, retiring all three looking.

St. John's will return to action on Friday at Jack Kaiser Stadium, taking on Quinnipiac with first pitch slated for 3 p.m.

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Tuesday, June 10

The fourth-seeded St. John’s baseball team fell to second-seeded UConn, 13-3, in Thursday afternoon’s elimination game of the BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by JEEP at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.

Fourth-Seeded St. John’s Falls in BIG EAST Tournament Elimination Game to Second-Seeded UConn, 13-3

Thursday, May 22

Next Event

Quinnipiac

W, 8-1

Mar 17 (Fri)

3 p.m.

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Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Pesca, Mario (1-2)

L: PANJWANI, Evan (0-2)

St. John's

Batting:

2B: Orbon, Luke 1 ; Keenan, Jimmy 2

3B: Ballestero, Tate 1 ; Glancy, David 1

HR: Mann, Aaron 1

RBI: Ballestero, Tate 1 ; Mayberry, Blake 1 ; Glancy, David 1 ; Orbon, Luke 2 ; Michaels, Kevin 3 ; Mann, Aaron 2 ; Cirelli, Nick 1 ; Higgins, Marty 2 ; Keenan, Jimmy 2 ; Orbon, Paul 2

SF: Michaels, Kevin 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Ballestero, Tate 1 ; Mayberry, Blake 2 ; Glancy, David 1 ; Orbon, Luke 3 ; Michaels, Kevin 3 ; Mann, Aaron 2 ; Cirelli, Nick 1 ; Higgins, Marty 2 ; Keenan, Jimmy 1 ; Orbon, Paul 1 ; Tucker, Jackson 2 ; Beauchamp, Ben 1 ; Brienza, Anthony 2