June 5, 2005

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Corvallis, OR - It was a season that began with a tremendous amount of excitement and a great deal of anticipation. It was a season that had people thinking of a run at the BIG EAST Championship and a run in another NCAA Tournament.

And despite the final score of Sunday night's game - Oregon State 19, St. John's 3 - the 2005 Red Storm baseball succeeded and in some cases, surpassed those goals. After beating Ohio State, 7-1, on Sunday afternoon to reach the championship game of the Corvallis Regional in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, St. John's faced the daunting task of having to beat Oregon State - ranked No. 3 in the country by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association - not once, but twice in order to win the regional.

The Beavers, the top-seeded team in the four-team regional, were a buzz-saw in the friendly confines of Goss Stadium at Coleman Field and pounded out 19 runs on 22 hits, scoring 13 in the second inning off three St. John's pitchers and cruised to a 19-3 win over St. John's, the third-seeded team, ending the Red Storm's dream season.

In the 10th season under head coach Ed Blankmeyer, St. John's advanced to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection for the second-straight year, the second time in as many years the Red Storm earned a berth to the "May Madness" event, the only school from the Northeast to earn that honor. The loss to the Beavers on Sunday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 2,532 ends St. John's 2005 season with a 41-18.

A slew of records were brought down in the St. John's record book, most notably the mark for wins in a season. The team's 7-1 win over Ohio State on Sunday afternoon gave the team 41 wins, breaking the record for most victories, set by the 1978 team led by Frank Viola that went 40-18 and advanced to the College World Series.

After beating the Buckeyes to advance to the program's first Regional Championship game since 1993 - when another Pacific 10 Conference opponent, Arizona State, ended the team's season - St. John's played its second game of the day with an attitude of "Why Not Us" as they prepared to face the Beavers.

Blankmeyer handed the ball to sophomore transfer Anthony Smith (Katonah, NY) for the start and the southpaw responded by retiring the Beavers in order in the bottom of the first. Smith, however, could not get out of the second inning. Oregon State loaded the bases on Smith after Andy Jenkins and Mitch Canham sandwiched singles around a walk to Cole Gillespie to start the inning. Shea McFeely promptly sent all three runners home with a double to center, giving the Beavers a 3-0 lead. Smith walked Danny Anderson and hit Ryan Gipson to load the bases again before Jacoby Ellsbury sent two runs home with a single through the right side, making it 5-0.

Redshirt freshman James Lally (Floral Park, NY) relieved Smith and gave up run-scoring singles to Tyler Graham, Darwin Barney and Jenkins before McFeely drove in two more with another single, increasing the margin to 10 runs. Lally was relieved by redshirt sophomore Justin Muir (Plainsboro, NJ), who surrendered a three-run home run to Anderson, closing out the scoring in the inning as Oregon State took a 13-0 lead.

That was enough for starter Anton Maxwell who, despite giving up eight hits in six innings, had the comfort zone of a big lead and did not surrender a run, walking one batter and striking out three.

The Red Storm got on the board for the first time in the sixth inning when senior third baseman Jim Martin (Norwood, MA) reached on an infield single, scoring junior center fielder Greg Thomson (Levittown, NY), who singled and moved to second on a throwing error.

The Beavers had increased their lead to 17 runs with four more runs in the fourth and added two more in the fifth. St. John's scored two runs in the seventh. Senior Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, DE) walked and moved to second when Thomson singled to right. A single from redshirt sophomore Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, NY) drove in Hershelman, and Thomson scored on a passed ball.

One of the bright spots for the Red Storm in the second game was the outing from freshman left-hander Nick Luisi (Bethpage, NY), who threw the final four innings, giving up two runs on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

Smith took the loss, falling to 1-2 this season. He went one inning and was charged with seven runs on four hits and two walks. Lally went one-third of an inning, giving up five runs on five hits, while Muir went 2.2 innings, yielding five runs on eight hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

The Red Storm, who had 11 hits and left 13 on base, were led by Thomson, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs. Senior Joe Burke (Brooklyn, NY), playing right field for the first time this season, had a pair of hits, along with Joachim and Martin, who drove in one run apiece.

Three members of the Red Storm were named to the Corvallis All-Regional Team, led by sophomore pitcher Anthony Sullivan (Arlington, MA), who threw the first complete game of his career in Sunday afternoon's 7-1 win over Ohio State, giving up one unearned run on six hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. Joining him on the all-tournament were Antoniato, who despite three errors in Saturday's game against Oregon State, batted .353 with two runs scored and four RBI, and second baseman DeLuca, who hit 267 during the weekend.

St. John's set several single season school records as well. The Red Storm topped the mark for most runs scored (427), most doubles (118), most strikeouts (499), saves (19) and wins (41).