Feb. 20, 2005

Box Score

Queens, NY - St. John's sophomore second baseman Sam DeLuca (Pelham, NY) hit an RBI double in the seventh inning and junior Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, NY) threw two innings of scoreless relief, leading the Red Storm to a 5-4 win over Southern (LA) University on Sunday afternoon during the final day of play at the ULL Invitational at Tigue Moore Field in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The win improves St. John's to 1-2 overall, while Southern falls to 0-3.

Sophomore Anthony Sullivan (Arlington, MA) threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, walking one batter, as he picked up his first win of the season.

Like they had in their first two games of the season, the Red Storm jumped on top in the first inning. Junior Greg Thomson (Levittown, NY) walked with two out and scored when senior Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, DE) tripled, giving St. John's a 1-0 lead.

The Jaguars hit St. John's senior starter Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, NJ) for three runs in the second as Southern took a 3-1 lead.

The Red Storm, however, responded in the top of the third, scoring three times to take a 4-3 lead. Back-to-back singles from Jim Martin (Norwood, MA) and Will Vogl (Pacifica, CA) put runners on first and second with one out for Thomson, who doubled down the right field line, scoring Martin. After a walk to Hershelman loaded the bases, junior Chris Joachim (Masaspequa, NY) laced a single to right, scoring Vogl and Thomson, and giving St. John's a 4-3 lead.

Southern tied the game at 4-all in the sixth with an RBI single from Gene Filyaw.

In the seventh, junior Jarod Hickle (LaGrange, TX) hit a one-out double down the left field line, putting the winning run in scoring position. DeLuca followed with a double to right, scoring pinch-runner Tim Blackmon (Rochester, NY) and giving St. John's a 5-4 lead.

Hansen entered the game in the eighth and retired the side. He gave up a leadoff walk in the ninth, but retired the next three batters for his first save of the season.

Wladyka started and went 5.2 innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on four hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. Joachim led the Red Storm at the plate, going 2-fo4 with two RBI.

St. John's plays next at Florida International, starting a three-game series on Friday.