St. John’s Evens Series with 7-2 Win Over Butler

Friday, May 15

Queens, N.Y. (Jack Kaiser Stadium)

2 p.m.

St. John's University

29-24, 14-6

Butler

20-33, 9-11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Butler	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	5	0
St. John's (N.Y.)	1	0	3	0	1	2	0	0	X	7	11	1

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

5/15/2026 6:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Raifstanger falls a triple shy of the cycle, goes 4-for-5 day career-high six RBIs

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's baseball team evened the final series of its regular season on Friday afternoon, defeating Butler, 7-2, at Jack Kaiser Stadium.

The Johnnies (29-24, 14-6 BIG EAST) will head into the final game of the regular season with a 14-6 league record. St. Johns, UConn (14-5) and Xavier (14-6) are all currently tied in the win column as of early Friday evening. UConn will play the second game of its series against Villanova starting at 6 p.m. on Friday night. The Red Storm holds the tiebreaker over both the Huskies and the Musketeers.

Jayder Raifstanger powered the St. John's offense on Friday afternoon, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. The junior from Great Barrington, Mass., went 4-for-5 with a double and a home run while driving in a career-high six runs and scoring twice. Jon LeGrande posted his 18th multi-hit game of the year, going 2-for-3 with two walks, a pair of stolen bases and three runs scored. Rob Mansour also logged a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4. Lewis Rodriguez doubled and scored twice, while Shaun McMillan tacked on a double and an RBI.

On the mound, Evan Chaffee struck out six over 6.0 innings of one-run work to improve to 4-0 in BIG EAST play. Jack Nestler shut the door for his first save of the year, fanning three over 3.0 no-hit frames.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the first inning, using an RBI single to grab an early 1-0 advantage. The Red Storm answered immediately in the bottom half, as Raifstanger laced a double into left before McMillan drove him home with an RBI two-bagger to even the score at one.

St. John's claimed its first lead of the series in the third inning. Rodriguez reached after taking a pitch off the shoulder before racing to third on a LeGrande single to right-center. Raifstanger then stepped to the plate and launched a 390-foot three-run bomb, putting the Johnnies in front, 4-1.

The Red Storm added to their lead in the fifth after LeGrande worked a leadoff walk and swiped second base. Raifstanger followed with a sharply hit ball through the right side, bringing LeGrande home to extend the advantage to 5-1.

St. John's kept the pressure on in the sixth inning. Rodriguez doubled to open the frame and moved to third on a sharply hit single by LeGrande. After LeGrande stole second to place two runners in scoring position, Raifstanger delivered again with a two-run single up the middle, stretching the lead to 7-1.

Butler (20-33, 9-11 BIG EAST) scratched across one final run in the eighth inning, but the Johnnies secured a 7-2 victory to even the series at one game apiece.

The Red Storm will close out the regular season on Saturday against Butler. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Jack Kaiser Stadium on ESPN+.