March 26, 2005

Stats

Queens, NY - St. John's junior Anthony Varvaro (Staten Island, NY) threw a complete game five-hitter and St. John's scored a pair runs in the late innings en route to 4-0 win over Boston College in the first game of a doubleheader at The Ballpark on Saturday afternoon.

The win improved St. John's record to 9-8 overall and 1-0 in the BIG EAST, while Boston College fell to 13-6 and 2-1 in the league.

It was a pitcher's duel in the early going, as Varvaro and BC starter Nate Jeanes battled back and forth.

The Eagles put a pair of runners on in the first - with Dave Preziosi reaching on a bunt single and Jason Delaney walking - but could not plate a run. Varvaro settled down and retired the next six batters before giving up a single to Jared McGuire in the third. The Eagles appeared ready to take the lead in the fourth when Drew Locke hit a leadoff single and Marco Albano was hit by a pitch, but Varvaro was able to escape. He struck out Shawn McGill looking, threw out pinch-runner Ryan Hutchinson and then struck out Mike Flynn to end the inning.

Jeanes, meanwhile, held St. John's without a hit until the fourth inning, when the Red Storm had three and took advantage of an error to take a 2-0 lead. Sophomore Sam DeLuca (Pelham, NY) reached on a throwing error moved to third when senior P.J. Antoniato (Levittown, NY) reached on a bunt single. A sacrifice fly from junior Will Vogl (Pacifica, CA) scored DeLuca with the go-ahead run. Junior Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, NY) followed with a hard single to left, putting runners on the corners for senior Joe Burke (Brooklyn, NY), who placed a perfect bunt down the third base line, scoring Antoniato and giving St. John's a 2-0 lead.

In the sixth, Antoniato hit a leadoff single and moved to second on Vogl's sacrifice bunt. After Burke was hit by a pitch, both runners moved up on a passed ball. Junior Ken Devenney (Philadelphia, PA) legged out an infield single to first, scoring Antoniato, and Burke charged around and slid ahead of the throw, giving the Red Storm a 4-0 lead.

Varvaro went 7.0 innings, giving up no runs on five hits, with three walks and nine strikeouts as he improved to 3-2 this season. It was the third career win for Varvaro over Boston College, as he has struck out 21 in 23 innings against the Eagles while carrying a 0.78 earned run average.