O’Leary Tosses Complete Game as St. John’s Cruises Past Villanova, 8-1

Friday, May 8

Plymouth Meeting, Pa. (Villanova Park)

3 p.m.

St. John's University

27-22, 12-4

Villanova

16-28, 3-13

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
St. John's (N.Y.)	0	1	0	3	1	1	1	1	0	8	10	0
Villanova	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	0

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

O’Leary Tosses Complete Game as St. John’s Cruises Past Villanova, 8-1

5/8/2026 6:45:00 PM | Baseball

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O’Leary goes the distance for the third time this season in dominant series opening victory

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. – Behind a complete game from Liam O'Leary, the St. John's baseball team (27-22, 12-4 BIG EAST) cruised past Villanova (17-27, 3-13 BIG EAST) in an 8-1 victory on Friday afternoon.

O'Leary delivered his third complete game of the season, all of which have come on the road in BIG EAST play, including outings against Seton Hall (April 2) and a shutout at UConn (April 17). The Souderton, Pa. native shined in his homecoming allowing just one run over nine innings on 114 pitches while matching his season-high of eight strikeouts. O'Leary is now tied with five other pitchers for the third-most complete games in the NCAA Division I and is the only hurler in the BIG EAST among that group.

With the win, the Red Storm have won six straight series openers and nine of its last 10 contests on Friday's.

Dylan Fitzsimmons paced the St. John's offense, going 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. Rob Mansour drove in the first three runs of the game and crossed the plate twice himself, while Shaun McMillan added a leadoff solo home run, his ninth long ball of the season. Jayder Raifstanger, Jon LeGrande and Cristian Bernardini also contributed RBIs in the winning effort.

The Red Storm struck first in the third inning after Fitzsimmons ripped a leadoff double to left center and later scored on a Mansour groundout to give St. John's a 1-0 edge.

St. John's added to its lead in the fourth as Will Cowan singled and Ayden Frey drew a walk to set the table for Mansour, who lined a two-run double down the right-field line. Bernardini followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0 before Villanova answered with a run in the bottom half of the frame.

McMillan quickly restored the four-run cushion in the fifth, launching a 367-foot leadoff home run over the left field wall. The Red Storm pushed another run across in the sixth when LeGrande doubled home Frey from second base for a 6-1 advantage.

RBI singles from Fitzsimmons in the seventh and Raifstanger in the eighth capped the scoring and extended the lead to 8-1. O'Leary retired the Wildcats the rest of the way to seal his seventh win of the season and secure the series-opening victory for the Johnnies.

The Red Storm will return to action on Saturday for game two of the three-game road swing at Villanova. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. from Villanova Park on ESPN+.