St. John’s Staves Off Villanova, 13-7, in BIG EAST Opener on Friday

Friday, April 5

Plymouth Meeting, Pa. (Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth)

3 p.m.

St. John's University

20-5-1, 0

Villanova

7-19, 0

St. John's

Villanova

St. John’s Staves Off Villanova, 13-7, in BIG EAST Opener on Friday

4/5/2024 6:35:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. – The St. John's baseball team (20-5-1, 1-0) held off a late surge by Villanova (7-19, 0-4) en route to a 13-7 victory in its BIG EAST opener at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth on Friday afternoon.

The Red Storm eclipsed the 20-win plateau in just 26 games, marking the fastest to 20 victories since 2017.

Five players logged two RBIs in the contest, including first baseman Aries Samek and left fielder Garrett Scavelli. The duo posted identical 2-for-5 showings at the dish with a home run, two RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Jimmy Keenan smacked his team-leading sixth dinger of the season with a two-hit, two-RBI day at the dish.

Speedster Jackson Tucker also rattled off three singles in the contest, chipping in two runs and two RBIs. Blake Mayberry recorded a pair of base knocks to go with two tallies in the conference opener.

Starter Xavier Kolhosser picked up his seventh win after tossing 5.1 innings of work on Friday. The right-hander struck out just two batters in his eighth start of the year.

The Red Storm took an early 1-0 edge after a leadoff single by Tucker. The Johnnies' center fielder advanced to second as Ben Beauchamp was plunked before sprinting 180 feet on a failed pickoff attempt and scoring the first run of the game.

Tucker continued to provide run support for the Johnnies in the top of the second, driving in Paul Orbon on a sacrifice fly to left and taking a 2-0 lead.

After Villanova broke up Kolhosser's scoreless inning streak with a run in the bottom of the second, St. John's capitalized on another errant throw in the top of the third. Mayberry and Luke Orbon, who were on first and second, both scored on the miscue by Wildcats' catcher Jason Neff to take a 4-1 edge.

Scavelli propelled the Red Storm out to a 5-1 lead in the top of the fourth, sending a 2-0 offering Rian Schwede into the wind and launching a solo shot to right field.

Kolhosser cruised through four innings of work, including a 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the fourth. The Johnnies' righty tossed just 49 pitches over that span to keep the Wildcats at bay.

St. John's poured it on in the top of the fifth, nearly doubling their run total with two swings. For the fifth time in as many innings, the leadoff batter, Mayberry, reached safely with a single. Keenan took the green light on a 3-0 pitch and sent the ball well over the right-center field wall for a 7-1 advantage. Samek bumped St. John's lead to eight, 9-1, with his first homer donning a Red Storm uniform, pulling an inside pitch down the left-field line for a two-run shot of his own.

The Wildcats chipped away at the St. John's lead over the next two innings, scoring three in the fifth and two more in the sixth to pull within three, 9-6.

Reliever Tim Cunningham cooled the Villanova lineup after scoring five unanswered runs, getting Neff to ground into a fielder's choice for the final out of the sixth. The submariner continued to assert his dominance in the seventh with back-to-back strikeouts to end the frame and maintain a three-run edge.

The Wildcats tacked on one more run in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly to center and cut its deficit to two, 9-7, heading into the final stanza.

St. John's added insurance runs in the top of the ninth, seeing pinch runner AJ Lausten score on the Wildcats' fifth error of the contest for a 10-7 lead. Tucker slapped an RBI single over the shortstop's head before pushing two more runs across on a Beauchamp single to left, claiming a 13-7 advantage.

Jed Boyle, who came on for the last out of the eighth, closed the door in the ninth to earn his third save of the year. The Syracuse, N.Y., native tossed a perfect 1.1 innings of work, inducing four flyouts to secure the six-run victory.

The Johnnies will return to the diamond for game two against the Villanova on Saturday. First pitch from Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth is scheduled for 1 p.m.