St. John's University Athletics
Photo by: Rooted Creative
BIG EAST CHAMPIONS: St. John’s Secures 10th Conference Title with 4-2 Victory over Georgetown
5/25/2024 6:02:00 PM | Baseball
Red Storm clinches automatic bid to NCAA Tournament for 38th appearance in program history
MASON, OHIO – The duo of Evan Chaffee and Xavier Kolhosser battled across nine innings to lift the St. John's baseball team (37-16-1) to its conference-leading 10th BIG EAST Baseball Championship with a 4-2 victory over Georgetown (36-21) at Prasco Park on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Johnnies will make their 38th appearance in the NCAA Tournament with Saturday's victory. The NCAA Selection Show will be broadcast live on ESPN2 on Monday, May 27 at noon ET.
For the sixth time in 10 tries, the Red Storm ran the table in the conference tournament. The Johnnies went 3-0 in the BIG EAST postseason slate, boasting a perfect mark for the first time since 2015.
St. John's secured its first BIG EAST crown since 2018 with its two-run victory in Mason, Ohio. Head Coach Mike Hampton captured his first at the helm of the Red Storm's baseball program, including his fifth since arriving in Queens in 2001.
Chaffee propelled the Johnnies to double-digit BIG EAST Tournament titles with one run allowed on two hits. The Hamburg, N.Y., native punched out seven Hoyas over six innings of work to earn a spot on the all-tournament team.
Fellow starter Xavier Kolhosser also joined Chaffee on the All-Tournament team after coming out of the bullpen on Saturday and locked down the Hoyas over three frames, retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced to pick up his ninth win of the year.
Feeling the energy of the late Jack Kaiser on the second anniversary of his passing, catcher Jimmy Keenan secured the namesake's Most Outstanding Player award following a seven-hit, six-RBI tournament. The White Plains, N.Y., native finished his weekend with a 2-for-4 outing and a run scored against the Hoyas.
Garrett Scavelli and Luke Orbon also found themselves on the All-Tournament team, both scoring once and driving in one run on the afternoon.
Chaffee faced the minimum over the first two innings of play. The Hoyas broke through with a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but the southpaw staved off any further threat. After plunking Christian Ficca to open the fifth, Chaffee settled in, striking out two of the next three batters and retiring six straight Hoyas through five innings of play.
The 6-foot-1 hurler found himself in trouble in the sixth, putting runners on second and third with one out. Chaffee locked in, striking out Kavi Caster and forcing Jake Hyde to ground out to second to end the frame.
Scavelli opened the bottom of the sixth with a crucial leadoff double. Three pitches later, Blake Mayberry brought the Johnnies' left fielder around to score on an RBI groundout to short, deadlocking the game at one.
The Red Storm took the lead for good in the seventh inning after Ben Beauchamp reached on an error and advanced to second. After a walk to Orbon and Anthony Brienza reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases, Jackson Tucker drew a one-out walk to bring Beauchamp across for a 2-1 edge. Scavelli knocked in the Johnnies' third run on a sacrifice fly, taking a 3-1 pitch into right field to knock in Orbon and earning a two-run lead, 3-1.
St. John's tacked on one more run in the eighth after a Keenan double to start the stanza. Following consecutive back-to-back walks to Paul Orbon and Beauchamp, Luke Orbon legged out an RBI fielder's choice to prevent a double play and gave the Johnnies a 4-1 advantage.
Kolhosser, who came on in the top of the seventh, rattled the Georgetown offense upon his entrance. The righty retired seven straight batters to open his outing. After allowing his only hit of the afternoon to Caster, which made it a 4-2 game on a solo home run, Kolhosser reeled in an underhand feed from Marty Higgins at first for the second out of the frame. Scavelli shut the door on the championship game, crashing into the left-center wall and reeling in a Marco Castillo fly ball to clinch the Johnnies' 10th conference tournament championship.
Jack Kaiser Most Outstanding Player
Jimmy Keenan, St. John's, So., C
All-Tournament Team
Tyler Minick, UConn, Fr., DH
Jake Hyde, Georgetown, Sr., OF
Josh Rolling, Georgetown, Sr., INF
Kavi Caster, Georgetown, Sr., OF
Xavier Kolhosser, St. John's, R-So., P
Evan Chaffee, St. John's, So., P
Garrett Scavelli, St. John's, Sr., OF
Jimmy Keenan, St. John's, So., C
Luke Orbon, St. John's, So., INF
Matt DePrey, Xavier, Sr., C
Alex Vera, Xavier, Gr., P
With the win, the Johnnies will make their 38th appearance in the NCAA Tournament with Saturday's victory. The NCAA Selection Show will be broadcast live on ESPN2 on Monday, May 27 at noon ET.
For the sixth time in 10 tries, the Red Storm ran the table in the conference tournament. The Johnnies went 3-0 in the BIG EAST postseason slate, boasting a perfect mark for the first time since 2015.
St. John's secured its first BIG EAST crown since 2018 with its two-run victory in Mason, Ohio. Head Coach Mike Hampton captured his first at the helm of the Red Storm's baseball program, including his fifth since arriving in Queens in 2001.
Chaffee propelled the Johnnies to double-digit BIG EAST Tournament titles with one run allowed on two hits. The Hamburg, N.Y., native punched out seven Hoyas over six innings of work to earn a spot on the all-tournament team.
Fellow starter Xavier Kolhosser also joined Chaffee on the All-Tournament team after coming out of the bullpen on Saturday and locked down the Hoyas over three frames, retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced to pick up his ninth win of the year.
Feeling the energy of the late Jack Kaiser on the second anniversary of his passing, catcher Jimmy Keenan secured the namesake's Most Outstanding Player award following a seven-hit, six-RBI tournament. The White Plains, N.Y., native finished his weekend with a 2-for-4 outing and a run scored against the Hoyas.
Garrett Scavelli and Luke Orbon also found themselves on the All-Tournament team, both scoring once and driving in one run on the afternoon.
Chaffee faced the minimum over the first two innings of play. The Hoyas broke through with a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but the southpaw staved off any further threat. After plunking Christian Ficca to open the fifth, Chaffee settled in, striking out two of the next three batters and retiring six straight Hoyas through five innings of play.
The 6-foot-1 hurler found himself in trouble in the sixth, putting runners on second and third with one out. Chaffee locked in, striking out Kavi Caster and forcing Jake Hyde to ground out to second to end the frame.
Scavelli opened the bottom of the sixth with a crucial leadoff double. Three pitches later, Blake Mayberry brought the Johnnies' left fielder around to score on an RBI groundout to short, deadlocking the game at one.
The Red Storm took the lead for good in the seventh inning after Ben Beauchamp reached on an error and advanced to second. After a walk to Orbon and Anthony Brienza reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases, Jackson Tucker drew a one-out walk to bring Beauchamp across for a 2-1 edge. Scavelli knocked in the Johnnies' third run on a sacrifice fly, taking a 3-1 pitch into right field to knock in Orbon and earning a two-run lead, 3-1.
St. John's tacked on one more run in the eighth after a Keenan double to start the stanza. Following consecutive back-to-back walks to Paul Orbon and Beauchamp, Luke Orbon legged out an RBI fielder's choice to prevent a double play and gave the Johnnies a 4-1 advantage.
Kolhosser, who came on in the top of the seventh, rattled the Georgetown offense upon his entrance. The righty retired seven straight batters to open his outing. After allowing his only hit of the afternoon to Caster, which made it a 4-2 game on a solo home run, Kolhosser reeled in an underhand feed from Marty Higgins at first for the second out of the frame. Scavelli shut the door on the championship game, crashing into the left-center wall and reeling in a Marco Castillo fly ball to clinch the Johnnies' 10th conference tournament championship.
Jack Kaiser Most Outstanding Player
Jimmy Keenan, St. John's, So., C
All-Tournament Team
Tyler Minick, UConn, Fr., DH
Jake Hyde, Georgetown, Sr., OF
Josh Rolling, Georgetown, Sr., INF
Kavi Caster, Georgetown, Sr., OF
Xavier Kolhosser, St. John's, R-So., P
Evan Chaffee, St. John's, So., P
Garrett Scavelli, St. John's, Sr., OF
Jimmy Keenan, St. John's, So., C
Luke Orbon, St. John's, So., INF
Matt DePrey, Xavier, Sr., C
Alex Vera, Xavier, Gr., P
Players Mentioned
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