St. John's University Athletics
Sunday, May 12
South Orange, N.J. (Sheppard Stadium)
2 p.m.
St. John's University
33-13, 13-5
9
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1
Seton Hall
23-28, 6-12
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8
9
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St. John's
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
6
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12
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Seton Hall
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1
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St. John’s Downs Seton Hall, 9-1
5/12/2024 5:46:00 PM | Baseball
Red Storm secures fifth conference series victory of the season
QUEENS, N.Y. (May 12, 2024) – The St. John's baseball team (33-13-1, 13-5) used an offensive onslaught in the seventh and eighth innings to earn a 9-1 victory over Seton Hall (23-28, 6-12) on Sunday afternoon at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium at Owen T. Carroll Field.
The trio of Ben Beauchamp, Jimmy Keenan and Marty Higgins each drove in two runs on the afternoon. The latter pair also produced two hits in Sunday's win. Garrett Scavelli also joined the duo in the multi-hit column with three knocks, adding two tallies of his own.
With Sunday's win, the Red Storm is one conference win away from securing a top-two seed in the BIG EAST Tournament. The Johnnies also earned its third straight road series win in South Orange, N.J., against the Pirates.
Starter Mario Pesca made quick work of the Pirates' lineup out of the gate, retiring eight straight batters to open the game, including four groundouts to a shifted Anthony Brienza at second base. The right-hander also held Seton Hall without a hit through the first four frames.
The Pirates broke up Pesca's no-hitter in the fifth before threatening with runners on the corners and no outs. Despite allowing just one run on a Jonathan Luders' single, Pesca induced an inning-ending 5-3 double play to limit the Hall from further scoring.
Keenan continues to shine behind the play, catching his conference-leading 24th runner stealing in the bottom of the sixth. The White Plains, N.Y., native has produced the most successful caught stealing attempts by a BIG EAST catcher since Xavier's Dan Rizzie posted 24 in the 2014 season.
The Johnnies took its first lead of the afternoon in the top of the seventh, knocking three runs across in the frame. After back-to-back one-out singles from Scavelli and Blake Mayberry, Keenan slapped a single of his own through the right side to tie the game at one. Two pitches later, Higgins produced the Red Storm's fourth-straight single and brought Mayberry round to score for a 2-1 edge. St. John's loaded the bases on a walk to pinch-hitter Paul Orbon before Beauchamp laced a sacrifice fly to center, scoring the Keenan from third for a 3-1 advantage.
Pesca induced two groundouts in the home half of the seventh before seeing his day coming to an end. The righty wrapped up his 6.2 innings of work allowing just three hits and striking out a trio of batters. Sam Mettert came on in relief and struck out Luders to end the frame.
St. John's loaded the bases again in the top of the eighth, unloading five runs on the Pirates. Brienza singled and evaded a tag on a stolen base to put himself in scoring position. After Tucker walked and Scavelli singled, Mayberry and Keenan laced back-to-back sacrifice flies to knock in two runs and put the Johnnies ahead by four, 5-1. Higgins slapped an RBI single to right before Paul Orbon and Beauchamp smacked consecutive RBI doubles to take a seven-run lead, 8-1. Luke Orbon finished the frame with an RBI base knock of his own to secure a 9-1 advantage.
Mettert struck out three of the five batters he faced in his 1.1 scoreless innings of work before Ben Adams came on in the ninth to seal the Red Storm's eight-run victory.
The Johnnies will return to action against Fairfield on Tuesday, making up their postponed game from April 2. First pitch from Jack Kaiser Stadium is slated for 2 p.m.
The trio of Ben Beauchamp, Jimmy Keenan and Marty Higgins each drove in two runs on the afternoon. The latter pair also produced two hits in Sunday's win. Garrett Scavelli also joined the duo in the multi-hit column with three knocks, adding two tallies of his own.
With Sunday's win, the Red Storm is one conference win away from securing a top-two seed in the BIG EAST Tournament. The Johnnies also earned its third straight road series win in South Orange, N.J., against the Pirates.
Starter Mario Pesca made quick work of the Pirates' lineup out of the gate, retiring eight straight batters to open the game, including four groundouts to a shifted Anthony Brienza at second base. The right-hander also held Seton Hall without a hit through the first four frames.
The Pirates broke up Pesca's no-hitter in the fifth before threatening with runners on the corners and no outs. Despite allowing just one run on a Jonathan Luders' single, Pesca induced an inning-ending 5-3 double play to limit the Hall from further scoring.
Keenan continues to shine behind the play, catching his conference-leading 24th runner stealing in the bottom of the sixth. The White Plains, N.Y., native has produced the most successful caught stealing attempts by a BIG EAST catcher since Xavier's Dan Rizzie posted 24 in the 2014 season.
The Johnnies took its first lead of the afternoon in the top of the seventh, knocking three runs across in the frame. After back-to-back one-out singles from Scavelli and Blake Mayberry, Keenan slapped a single of his own through the right side to tie the game at one. Two pitches later, Higgins produced the Red Storm's fourth-straight single and brought Mayberry round to score for a 2-1 edge. St. John's loaded the bases on a walk to pinch-hitter Paul Orbon before Beauchamp laced a sacrifice fly to center, scoring the Keenan from third for a 3-1 advantage.
Pesca induced two groundouts in the home half of the seventh before seeing his day coming to an end. The righty wrapped up his 6.2 innings of work allowing just three hits and striking out a trio of batters. Sam Mettert came on in relief and struck out Luders to end the frame.
St. John's loaded the bases again in the top of the eighth, unloading five runs on the Pirates. Brienza singled and evaded a tag on a stolen base to put himself in scoring position. After Tucker walked and Scavelli singled, Mayberry and Keenan laced back-to-back sacrifice flies to knock in two runs and put the Johnnies ahead by four, 5-1. Higgins slapped an RBI single to right before Paul Orbon and Beauchamp smacked consecutive RBI doubles to take a seven-run lead, 8-1. Luke Orbon finished the frame with an RBI base knock of his own to secure a 9-1 advantage.
Mettert struck out three of the five batters he faced in his 1.1 scoreless innings of work before Ben Adams came on in the ninth to seal the Red Storm's eight-run victory.
The Johnnies will return to action against Fairfield on Tuesday, making up their postponed game from April 2. First pitch from Jack Kaiser Stadium is slated for 2 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Pesca, Mario (6-1)
L: REICH, Ryan (3-3)
Batting:
2B: Orbon, Paul 1 ; Beauchamp, Ben 1
RBI: Mayberry, Blake 1 ; Keenan, Jimmy 2 ; Higgins, Marty 2 ; Orbon, Paul 1 ; Beauchamp, Ben 2 ; Orbon, Luke 1
SF: Mayberry, Blake 1 ; Keenan, Jimmy 1 ; Beauchamp, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tucker, Jackson 1 ; Scavelli, Garrett 2 ; Mayberry, Blake 1 ; Keenan, Jimmy 1 ; Higgins, Marty 1 ; Orbon, Paul 1 ; Beauchamp, Ben 1 ; Brienza, Anthony 1
SB: Brienza, Anthony 1
CS: Keenan, Jimmy 1
PO: Tucker, Jackson 1
Batting:
2B: POKROVSKY, Staus 1
RBI: LUDERS, Jonathan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: POKROVSKY, Staus 1
CS: SYLVESTER, Zack 1
HBP: SYLVESTER, Zack 1 ; LUDERS, Jonathan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
INF
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/ BaseballC
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
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