St. John’s Downed by William & Mary on Saturday

Saturday, April 1

Williamsburg, Va. (Plumeri Park)

4 p.m.

St. John's University

16-9

William & Mary

17-11

St. John's

William & Mary

4/1/2023 7:36:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Luke Orbon goes 5-for-5 while Tate Ballestero smacks his second home run in as many days

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Despite a career-high five hits from Luke Orbon and Tate Ballestero blasting his second home run in as many games, the St. John's baseball team fell to William & Mary, 15-6, on Saturday evening.

Orbon became the first player to record five or more hits in a game since teammate Kevin Michaels rattled off five against Georgetown on May 15, 2022. The New Hyde Park, N.Y., native also tallied a run and an RBI on Saturday.

Ballestero drove in half of the Red Storm runs, racking up three RBIs in his 2-for-5 day at the dish. Jackson Tucker and Jace Jeremiah posted two hits apiece while the latter scored twice and knocked in one run.

The Johnnies (16-9) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the opening frame, seeing Ballestero loft a two-run shot over the left-center wall.

William & Mary (17-11) responded in the home half as Ben Williamson slapped a two-run homer of his own, followed by a Joe Delossantos solo home run for a 3-2 lead.

The Tribe laced another two-run home run in the second, bumping its lead up to three, 5-2.

Jeremiah pulled the Johnnies to within two, 5-3, on an RBI single to center in the top of the fourth, bringing Higgins around from second. However, William & Mary had a quick response in the home half with another two-run homer to take a four-run lead, 7-3.

The Tribe tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning and six in the sixth frame.

St. John's halted the William & Mary's stretch of 10 unanswered runs with a two-spot in the top of the seventh. Ballestero ripped an RBI single to left while the Tribe's Lucas Carmichael bobbled the ball and caused Jeremiah to break for the plate, 15-5.

Reliever Ben Adams kept his scoreless-inning streak alive with a blank 1.2 frames of work, holding the opposition without a run for 10 straight innings. The junior left-hander also struck out two of the seven batters he faced.

Orbon plated the final run of the game in the eighth with an RBI single to right, scoring Jeremiah and slashing the Johnnies' deficit to nine, 15-6.

Vincent Bianchi tossed a scoreless eighth, allowing just one hit and striking out one batter before the Red Storm dropped the contest in the bottom half.

St. John's will return to Plumeri Park on Sunday for the final game of its series with William & Mary. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.