St. John’s Splits Doubleheader with Marshall

Sunday, March 5

Charleston, W. Va. (GoMart Ballpark)

1 p.m.

St. John's University

5-4

Marshall

5-3

St. John's

Marshall

3/5/2023 8:44:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score - Game 1 (PDF)Box Score - Game 2 (PDF)

The Red Storm took the series with its game two win on Sunday

CHARLESTON, W. Va. – The St. John's baseball team split its doubleheader with Marshall on Sunday, falling in game one, 4-2, before securing a 5-3 victory to take the series at GoMart Ballpark.

Red Storm third baseman Marty Higgins showcased a 4-for-9 performance in two games on Sunday, scoring three of the team's seven runs on the day. The Nutley, N.J., native finished the weekend with six total hits, half of which were doubles, while logging three RBIs and a team-best four tallies.

The Johnnies also saw solid production from Tate Ballestero and Paul Orbon, each recording a trio of RBIs in West Virginia.

Closer Chuck Sanzio also shut the door in his two appearances against Marshall, earning a save and striking out four in two innings of work.

Game 1

In the team's 4-2 setback in game one, the Red Storm tallied four hits, half of them being doubles.

St. John's opened the scoring with a two-run second inning. After a Ballestero one-out double, Jimmy Keenan swapped spots with the Johnnies' designated hitter to take a 1-0 edge. Three batters later with the runners on the corners, Orbon laced an RBI single to left-center to bring Keenan across for a 2-0 lead.

Marshall responded in the bottom of the third with an RBI base knock from first baseman David Carinci to slash the Red Storm advantage in half, 2-1.

After a blank fourth, the Thundering Herd's corner infielder tied the game at two on a one-run triple in the fifth before a two-run shot from Kyle Schaefer gave the home team a 4-2 edge.

It was all Marshall's Drew Harlow from that point forward as the reliever tossed five innings of scoreless ball, allowing just one baserunner on a walk and striking out four.

The Johnnies' Tim Cunningham kept the Red Storm in the contest with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth, striking out two along the way. However, Harlow stifled the Red Storm lineup, retiring the final 14 batters he faced to take game one.

Game 2

Higgins put forth a 3-for-5 showing in the final game of the series, registering two runs scored and an RBI in the 5-3 victory.. Jace Jeremiah, Austin Machado and Aaron Mann all recorded two hits and a tally in the affair.

The Johnnies took an early lead in game two as well, going up 1-0 in the top of the second on an RBI groundout by Jackson Tucker that plated Mann from third.

Starter Joe Mascio rolled through the first three innings, striking out three and forcing an inning-ending double play to end the third. The lefty finished the game by retiring 10 of the final 11 batters he face, surrendering just two hits in total and striking out five across six scoreless frames of work.

St. John's knocked in three more runs in the top of the fourth after consecutive doubles from Machado and Higgins to take a 2-0 lead. Following a sacrifice bunt, Jeremiah slapped an RBI single to left and brought Higgins around to score, bumping the Johnnies' lead to three. The Red Storm tacked on another run after a charging Jeremiah avoided the tag at the plate on a Ballestero double down the right-field line for the fourth run of the game.

In the top of the fifth, the Johnnies capitalized on a dropped fly ball with two outs that scored a speedy Jeremiah from first to bolster the team's lead, 5-0.

Both squads were kept off the board over the next two innings before a three-run eighth frame brought Marshall to within two, 5-3. Reliever Jake Alfaro came on with one out in the inning and retired both batters on groundouts to halt The Herd's threat.

Sanzio came on the ninth and struck out two batters, picking up his second save of the season.

The Johnnies make their 2023 debut at Jack Kaiser Stadium on Wednesday, March 8 when Hofstra makes its way to Queens for a 3 p.m. showdown.