St. John’s Takes Game One at Marshall, 8-4

Saturday, March 4

Huntington, W.Va. (Kennedy Center YMCA)

2 p.m.

St. John's University

5-3

Marshall

4-3

St. John's

Marshall

3/4/2023 8:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Live Stats

Johnnies smash three homers in fifth win of the season

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – With three home runs on the afternoon and a dominant relief appearance from redshirt senior Nick Cirelli, the St. John's baseball team cruised to an 8-4 win at Marshall on Saturday.

Cirelli put forth an electric outing, picking up his first win of the season by striking out a career-high six in 5.1 near-perfect innings of work.

Tate Ballestero, Marty Higgins and Paul Orbon each hit a home run and tallied two RBIs against the Thundering Herd. Austin Machado and Jace Jeremiah each tallied an RBI in the contest while Kevin Michaels paced the team with a pair of runs scored.

Sophomore Jackson Tucker continued to find his way on base, reaching base safely for the 27^th-straight game with a single, a walk and a run scored in Huntington.

After a blank opening frame, Marshall (4-3) took an early 1-0 lead on a bases-loaded walk in the first.

The Johnnies quickly retaliated with a two-run frame to go up by one, 2-1. Higgins laced an RBI double to the right-center gap, bringing Kevin Michaels around to score. Two batters later with runners on second and third, Aaron Mann dove head first into home plate after a strikeout pitch scuttered away from the catcher, allowing Orbon to reach and Higgins to move to third.

After St. John's starter Sonny Fauci worked himself out of trouble in the home half of the second, the Thundering Herd posted two more in the third and took a 3-2 edge. The advantage could have grown but Marshall met Cirelli with two outs and the Martinez, Calif., native went on to retire 14-straight batters.

While the Johnnies' hurler dominated the Thundering Herd's lineup, St. John's took advantage and knotted the game at three on a Jeremiah RBI double to right in the fourth, plating Machado from first.

In the fifth inning, Higgins and Orbon poured it on, both ripping solo shots, respectively, to give the Johnnies a 5-3 edge.

The Red Storm bumped its lead to three, 6-3, in the seventh frame with an RBI base knock from Machado that scored Michaels. Ballestero provided a pair of insurance tallies with a two-run dinger to deep right in the eighth, capping off the Johnnies' scoring, 8-3.

Marshall's Owen Ayers broke the scoreless drought in the bottom of the eighth, hitting a solo home run and cutting the Herd's deficit to four, 8-4. However, Cirelli and closer Chuck Sanzio, who came on in the ninth, shut the door on Marshall to take game one of the series.

The Johnnies return to action tomorrow with a doubleheader against the Thundering Herd at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston, W.Va. Game one's first pitch is slated for 1 p.m., with game two to follow at approximately 5 p.m.