June 4, 2004

Box Score

Palo Alto, Calif. - Long Beach State right fielder Steve Velazco hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the 18th-ranked Dirtbags' to a 4-3 win over St. John's in the first round of an NCAA Regional Tournament at Sunken Diamond on the campus of Stanford University.

St. John's (36-22) will play at 2 p.m. (ET) on Saturday against the loser of tonight's game featuring host Stanford and UNLV. Long Beach State (37-19) will play the winner of the Stanford-UNLV game at 6 p.m. ET.

With the game tied at 3-all in the bottom of the ninth, Red Storm sophomore closer Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, N.Y.) walked Brad Davis with one out and gave up a single to Mike Hofius to put runners on the corners. Velazco, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth, hit the first pitch from Hansen through the left side, lifting Long Beach State to the 4-3 win.

The Red Storm had a chance in the top of the inning, putting runners on first and second with one out, and loading the bases with two out, but Dirtbags closer Neil Jamison struck out junior second baseman P.J. Antoniato (Levittown, N.Y.) looking to end the inning.

The game had gone back-and-forth through the first eight innings. St. John's jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second when junior Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, Del.) was hit by a pitch from Long Beach starter Jason Vargas, and scored when sophomore Greg Thomson (Levittown, N.Y.) hit a double to the wall in right.

The Dirtbags' bounced back to take a 2-1 lead in the fourth with a pair of unearned runs off of St. John's sophomore starter Anthony Varvaro (Staten Island, N.Y.). Varvaro who retired the first nine batters he faced, walked Josh Buhagiar to lead off the fourth, and Danny Mocny reached on an Antoniato error, only his third in the last 33 games, putting runners on first and second with one out. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and the Dirtbags tied the game on a John Bowker groundout. Troy Tulowitzki followed with a single, scoring Mocny and giving Long Beach State a 2-1 lead.

The Red Storm, however, as they have done countless times this season, came back. Sophomore Eddie Schultz (Flemington, N.J.) hit a 2-1 offering from Vargas over the left field wall, tying the game at 2-all in the sixth. One inning later, Antoniato blasted a 3-1 offering from Vargas over the scoreboard in left, giving St. John's a 3-2 lead.

Varvaro walked Vargas to lead off the seventh, and a sacrifice bunt from Brad Davis moved him over to second. Hansen relieved Varvaro at that point, and appeared to have the second out of the inning when Hofius grounded to short, but the first base umpire ruled that redshirt freshman Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) pulled his foot off the bag, putting runners on the corners with one out. Hansen struck out Sean Boatright for the second out, but pinch-hitter Travis Udvarhelyi hit a single to driving in Vargas with the tying run.

St. John's out-hit Long Beach State, 7-5, but three errors and a pair of leadoff walks - one in the fourth and the other in the ninth - allowed the Dirtbags to score the decisive runs.

Thomson finished 3-for-4 with two singles a double, while Antoniato hit his sixth home run this season and Schultz added his fourth.

Varvaro went 6.1 innings, allowed three runs (one earned) on only two hits, with three walks and seven strikeouts. Hansen, who falls to 2-2, went 2.0 innings giving up one run on three hits, with one walk and three strikeouts.