Feb. 26, 2006

Box Score

HOUSTON - - The St. John's baseball team wrapped up play at the Rice Invitational on Sunday afternoon, falling to third-ranked Nebraska, 12-4, at Rice University's Reckling Park. St. John's went 1-2 in three weekend games, falling to 1-3 on the young season, while Nebraska went 2-1 and improved to 5-2 overall.

Will Vogl had another big day at the plate for the Red Storm, going 3-for-4 with a single, double, home run and two RBI. For the weekend, Vogl was 6-for-12 with a double, triple, two home runs and six RBI. First baseman Chris Joachim had a pair of hits and an RBI, and second baseman Sam DeLuca went 1-for-4 with an RBI double and a run scored.

Sophomore Johnny Dorn picked up the win for Nebraska to improve to 1-1 on the season, and Luis Monell got the loss for St. John's to fall to 0-1 overall.

Michael Wehrle gave the Huskers an early lead with an RBI double to the base of the left field wall, but the Red Storm responded with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning. Leadoff hitter Vogl took the first pitch he saw from Dorn up and over the left-center field wall for his second home run of the weekend.

Vogl's blast tied the score at 1-1, heading into the top of the second inning, but the Huskers came back with three more runs in the second and two in the third to take a 6-1 lead. Bryce Nimmo hit a pair of RBI singles in the two scoring innings, and catcher Jeff Christy hit a solo home run in the third to highlight the Nebraska scoring.

St. John's cut into the Nebraska advantage in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs on three hits. Vogl again got things started with a two-out double into the right-center field gap. Chris Joachim followed with a first-pitch RBI single to plate Vogl, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Christy. Sam DeLuca scored Joachim from third with an RBI double and came around to score on a balk by Dorn.

Sophomore Matt Tosoni relieved Jared Yecker, who made his collegiate debut in the third inning, in the top of the fifth and shut the Cornhusker offense down over 2.2 innings. Tosoni bounced back from a Friday outing, allowed just one base runner and threw 16 of 25 pitches for strikes in a quality appearance.

Nebraska added four more runs in the fifth and two in the eighth to take a comfortable 12-4 lead through eight innings. Dorn and the Cornhusker bullpen combined to allow no runs and four hits over the final 6.0 innings of the game to seal the win.

The Red Storm finishes play at the Rice Invitational having beaten Texas State, 10-5, on Saturday night, and fallen to nationally ranked Rice and Nebraska by respective 14-7 and 12-4 scores. The team next travels south for a Spring Break trip from March 2-12, with games coming at East Tennessee State, Charleston Southern and the College of Charleston. The Red Storm's home opener will immediately follow on March 14 against the University at Albany.