April 4, 2005

Box Score

Queens, NY - St. John's junior Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, NY) threw four innings of scoreless relief in the opener and senior Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, NJ) threw five-hit ball over seven-plus innings, leading the Red Storm baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Pittsburgh (3-2 and 4-2) at The Ballpark on Monday afternoon.

St. John's has won five-straight games, improving to 14-9 overall and 4-1 in the BIG EAST, while the Panthers fall to 13-11 overall and 1-6 in the league. The wins completed a three-game series sweep for St. John's, giving them six wins in the last seven meetings between the teams.

The nightcap was tied at 2-all in the seventh when the Red Storm broke the tie and took a 4-2 lead. Sophomore Sam DeLuca (Pelham, NY) gave St. John's the lead when he laced a triple down the right field line, scoring junior Will Vogl (Pacifica, CA), who had reached on a throwing error. Junior catcher Jarod Hickle (LaGrange, TX) followed with a long fly ball to center, scoring DeLuca and giving the Red Storm a 4-2 lead.

Wladyka retired the first two batters in the eighth and walked Peter Parise, but redshirt sophomore Justin Muir (Plainsboro, NJ) struck out Dan Ford for the final out of the inning. Jim Negrych walked to lead off the ninth and Muir was relieved by sophomore Anthony Sullivan (Arlington, MA), who struck out Jimmy Mayer for the first out of the inning. Sullivan walked Sean Conley, and was relieved by redshirt freshman James Lally (Floral Park, NY), who induced two ground ball outs to earn his first collegiate save. Pittsburgh scored a pair of runs on a throwing error by DeLuca in the fifth, taking a 2-1 lead. Conley hit a leadoff single, moved to second when Jeff Stevens was hit by a pitch and, after one out, Mike Megale hit an infield single to load the bases. Ben Copeland hit a hard line drive to second, which was caught by DeLuca, but his throw to first for the double play was off line, allowing two runs to score. St. John's tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when junior Greg Thomson (Levittown, NY) hit a double to right and raced around third on an infield single from redshirt sophomore Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, NY).

Wladyka improved to 4-2 overall, throwing 7.2 innings, giving up two unearned runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

In the opener, Joachim was issued a one-out walk in the bottom of the sixth by Pittsburgh starter Don Rhoten, who was relieved by Andrew Kuss. Joachim moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single through the left side from senior Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, DE), giving St. John's a 3-2 lead.

Hansen, who saved the Red Storm's win on Sunday, entered the game in the fourth inning with runners on second and third after Ford walked and Negrych hit a ground-rule double to left off of redshirt sophomore starter Rob Delaney (River Vale, NJ). After striking out Jeff Stevens, Conley hit a single to left, scoring both runners and tying the game. Hansen retired the next two batters to get out of the jam. Hansen got into trouble in the sixth after Negrych walked with one out and stole second, but he escaped that without a run and retired the side in the ninth for his first win of the season. He went 4.0 innings, gave up one hit, walked two and struck out seven.

The Red Storm had taken a 2-0 lead in the third when senior PJ Antoniato (Levittown, NY) reached on an error and scored on a double to right-center from Thomson. With two out, senior Joe Burke (Brooklyn, NY) delivered a double down the left field line, scoring Thomson with the second run.

St. John's plays next on Tuesday, hosting St. Francis (NY) at The Ballpark at 3:30 p.m.