St. John’s Downs Iona, 5-4

Wednesday, May 1

Queens, N.Y. (Kaiser Stadium)

6 p.m.

St. John's University

28-11-1

Iona

10-31

IONA

St. John's

5/1/2024 9:39:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Luke Orbon drives in three runs and smashes fourth homer of the season

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's baseball team edged out Iona, 5-4, at Jack Kaiser Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Junior shortstop Luke Orbon smashed his fourth home run of the year en route to a three-RBI day at the dish.

Garrett Scavelli continued to find his way on base in Wednesday's contest, extending his reached base streak to 27 games with his leadoff single in the opening frame. The Franklin Square, N.Y., native finished 1-for-1 at the dish with two walks, a pair of tallies and an RBI.

Iona (10-31) jumped out to a 3-0 lead through three innings of play, scoring two runs in the first and one tally in the third.

The Red Storm (28-11-1) worked three walks to load the bases with one out in the home half of the third. Orbon took a free pass to first with his base on balls, knocking in St. John's first run of the game, 3-1.

The Johnnies tacked on another tally in the bottom of the fourth as Scavelli roped a sacrifice fly to left field, bringing Jackson Tucker around to score and pulling St. John's within one, 3-2.

After Red Storm held Iona scoreless for the second-straight inning thanks to AJ Lausten getting out of a bases-loaded jam, St. John's put a two-spot on the board in the home half of the fifth. Jimmy Keenan took a pitch off the hip before Orbon belted a two-run shot deep to right, giving the Johnnies a 4-3 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, St. John's put runners on the corners after walks to Scavelli and Ben Beauchamp. Scavelli crossed home plate during the ensuing at-bat after Iona threw down to second on a steal attempt by the Red Storm.

Reliever Ben Adams struck out two batters in his perfect sixth inning before Chuck Sanzio tossed a scoreless seventh frame for the Johnnies.

Iona scored one run in the eighth inning as shortstop Jayson Gonzalez smacked an RBI single into right-center to bring the Gaels within one, 5-4. The visiting team did not go down quietly, loading the bases in the ninth but falling short as Jed Boyle forced Nickolas Mora to whiff at strike three to end the game.

The Red Storm will return to action on Friday when Creighton comes to Queens for a three-game series. Game one from Jack Kaiser Stadium is slated for 6 p.m.