June 4, 2005

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Corvallis, OR - Top-seeded Oregon State pounded out 11 runs on 14 hits, and took advantage of four errors, leading the Beavers to an 11-1 win over St. John's in the winner's bracket of the 2005 NCAA Tournament Corvallis Regional.

The loss drops St. John's to the loser's bracket, where they will face Ohio State, who eliminated second-seeded Virginia, 2-1 on Saturday afternoon. The winner of the game between the third-seeded Red Storm and fourth-seeded Buckeyes (40-19) will advance to play Oregon State in the championship game at 6 p.m. Either team would need to beat the Beavers, ranked third in the country by Collegiate Baseball, twice in order to win the regional.

On Saturday, Oregon State took advantage of sloppy play by St. John's, ranked No. 29 in the country by Collegiate Baseball, to take a 5-0 lead after five innings, and sophomore right-hander Jonah Nickerson made it stand up, throwing a complete game and striking out nine batters along the way.

St. John's senior starter Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, NJ) got into trouble right from the start, walking the leadoff batter. The Beavers put two on base after the first of three errors from senior shortstop P.J. Antoniato (Levittown, NY), but the Red Storm got out of the inning when Darwin Barney was called out for interfering with sophomore second baseman Sam DeLuca (Pelham, NY) on a double play ball.

The Beavers started the scoring in the second, when Shea McFeely hit the first offering to the wall in right for a double. After striking out Cole Gillespie for the first out, Mike Lissman lined out to third baseman Jim Martin (Norwood, MA), but the senior threw to second trying to force out McFeely and his throw went to right, moving McFeely up. After a walk put runners on the corners, Ryan Gipson singled to right, scoring McFeely and giving OSU a 1-0 lead.

Wladyka retired the Beavers on seven pitches in the third and got out of the fourth with relative ease, but trouble arose in the fifth. Jacoby Ellsbury was issued a leadoff walk and stole second before Tyler Graham hit a ground ball to short. Antoniato immediately threw to third to get Ellsbury and Martin had him in a run down, but Antoniato was called for interference and the Beavers had runners on first and second with none out. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners up and Andy Jenkins followed with a triple to the wall in center, plating two runs. Wladyka was relieved for redshirt sophomore Robert Delaney (River Vale, NJ), who gave up a double to Canham, making the score 4-0. A single from Cole Gillespie plated Canham, giving the Beavers a 5-0 lead.

That would be enough for Nickerson, who gave up hits in four of the first five innings, but maintained control. Of the Red Storm's first three hits in the first four innings, all came with two out. Antoniato hit a two-out single in the first and stole second, but was left stranded, as were DeLuca, who hit a two-out double in the second, and junior Eddie Schultz (Flemington, NJ), who hit a two-out double in the fourth.

Oregon State scored three runs off of freshman reliever George Brown (Syracuse, NY) and added two off of freshman Dan Stanley (Sewell, NJ). Freshman Nick Luisi (Bethpage, NY) threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game for St. John's.

St. John's scored its lone run in the bottom of the ninth when junior catcher Jarod Hickle (La Grange, TX) doubled to right-center, plating Antoniato, who hit a leadoff single, giving him at least two hits in the last eight games.

Wladyka finished the day going 4.1 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits with three walks and one strikeout. Delaney went two innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits with two strikeouts. Brown went two-thirds of an inning, giving up three runs with one walk and two hits, while Stanley went two-thirds, giving up two runs on two hits with one walk.

St. John's will send out sophomore Anthony Sullivan (Arlington, MA), who is 7-3 with a 2.78 earned run average, on Sunday in the elimination game. He will face Ohio State senior left-hander Trent Luyster, who is 7-3 this season with a 4.43 earned run average.

Fans can visit the St. John's Athletics website, www.RedStormSports.com, and listen to a live webcast of the game, which begins at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET). Steve Tannen, a New Jersey native who is the host of "Sports Talk" on KPNW 1120 AM NewsRadio in Albany, Oregon, will call the play-by-play, with Mike "Mex" Carey providing color analysis.