Mike Hampton Earns 100th Career Win in St. John’s 9-3 Victory at Xavier

Saturday, April 27

Cincinnati, Ohio (Hayden Field)

1 p.m.

St. John's University

26-11-1, 0

Xavier

22-21, 0

St. John's

Xavier

Mike Hampton Earns 100th Career Win in St. John’s 9-3 Victory at Xavier

4/27/2024 5:10:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Red Storm first baseman Marty Higgins logged three RBIs in Saturday’s win

CINCINNATI, Ohio – St. John's Baseball Head Coach Mike Hampton secured his 100^th career win in the Red Storm's 9-3 victory at Xavier in Hayden Field on Saturday.

Hampton, in his fifth year at the helm of the program, becomes the fourth St. John's baseball head coach to earn 100 career wins, joining Ed Blankmeyer (829), Joe Russo (612) and Jack Kaiser (366).

First baseman Marty Higgins helped the Red Storm to its six-run win with a three-RBI day at the dish. Blake Mayberry crossed home plate on three occasions while Ben Beauchamp recorded two tallies on his own.

The Musketeers (22-21, 6-5) jumped out to a 1-0 lead on an RBI double from Matt McCormick in the bottom of the first.

Following a blank second, Garrett Scavelli reached base safely for the 25^th straight game, drawing a leadoff walk in the top of the third inning. Xavier allowed the one baserunner and worked its way out of trouble to keep St. John's at bay.

The Red Storm (26-11-1, 7-4) capitalized on a Xavier throwing error in the top of the fourth, watching Ben Beauchamp and Blake Mayberry cross on the play to take a 2-1 lead.

Starter Evan Chaffee settled in after the opening frame, holding Xavier off the board over the next four frames, including a 1-2-3 frame in the fifth inning.

The Musketeers tied the game at two in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run from Connor Misch. Xavier continued to threaten with runners on the corners and one out, but Xavier Kolhosser, who made his first appearance in more than three weeks, came on to induce a popup and rocketed strike three past Luke Hammond to halt the Musketeers' opportunity.

St. John's blew the game wide open with a six-run top of the seventh inning. The Johnnies were given free bases as Scavelli and Chad Falcon recorded back-to-back walks to start the frame. Brienza dropped down a sacrifice bunt but reached safely on a Xavier throwing error and scored Scavelli on the play, 3-2. Falcon and Brienza both crossed on wild pitches to take a 5-2 edge. After a one-out walk to Beauchamp and Mayberry singled, Jimmy Keenan roped an RBI ground-rule double down the left-field line for a 6-2 edge. Two batters later, Higgins slapped a 2-2 offering to left-center and put the Johnnies ahead by six, 8-2, on a two-run single.

Xavier tacked on one more run in the bottom of the eighth but the Red Storm returned the favor as Higgins knocked in Mayberry on a sacrifice fly to center in the top of the ninth.

Kolhosser shut the Musketeers down to pick up his eighth win of the year. The Wappinger Falls, N.Y., native finished his first career relief appearance with three strikeouts across 3.2 innings of work.

The Johnnies will look to secure its third conference series when they return to action at Xavier on Sunday. First pitch from Hayden Field is slated for 12 p.m.