March 19, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - The Red Storm opens BIG EAST play on Thursday with a three-game series in Piscataway, N.J. against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. First pitch on Thursday is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Bainton Field. The teams will play at 3:05 p.m. on Friday and finish the set with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.
The two teams shared the BIG EAST regular season title a year ago before Rutgers went on to win the BIG EAST Tournament. The teams have met 68 times in a series that dates back to 1957. St. John's leads the all-time series 37-31 and has won seven of the past ten meetings, including two of three in 2007. Since the 2000 season, St. John's is 6-2 in BIG EAST openers. Before a loss to UConn a year ago, St. John's had won five straight conference openers.
STORMTRACKER
Brian Kemp enters the series with a 14-game hitting streak. Kemp is batting .403 (29-for-72), has at least one hit in 16 games, and has reached base in all 17 games this season.
St. John's has seen its team batting average climb to .315 and the team has eight players over the .300 mark.
The pitching staff, meanwhile, has lowered its ERA to 3.38 ERA and is holding opponents to a .215 batting average.
The Red Storm is 12-0 when out-hitting the opposition and is 8-1 when scoring first.
St. John's has collected at least 10 hits in each of the past five games (all wins). The squad is 10-1 when having at least 10 hits in a game.
Projected Starters/2008 Statistics
3/20-LHP Scott Barnes /1-1, 4.82 ERA, 18.2 innings, 16 strikeouts, .203 opp/avg
3/21-LHP George Brown /3-0, 3.00 ERA, 24.0 innings, 23 strikeouts, .227 opp/avg
3/22-TBA
Scouting The Rutgers Scarlet Knights
The Scarlet Knights enter the series with a 5-9 record and are coming off of a 10-1 defeat at the hands of Florida Atlantic.
Rutgers earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament in 2007 after winning the BIG EAST tournament and also shared the regular season title with St. John's. The team finished 2007 with a 42-21 record.
Jon Gossard leads the team with a .339 average and is tied for the team lead with 12 RBI.
Jaren Matthews also has 12 RB, a team-leading two home runs and a .291 batting average.
Preseason All-BIG EAST first baseman Tom Edwards is batting .273 with eight RBI. Edwards has drawn 17 walks and boasts a team-best .475 on-base percentage.
Casey Gaynor is 1-3 on the mound with a 4.13 ERA. The righty has 32 strikeouts in 28.1 innings.
Jason Downey has a 2.84 ERA over seven appearances. Along with two saves, Downey has 14 strikeouts in just 6.1 innings.
Projected Starter/2008 statistics
3/20-RHP Steve Holt/0-0, 5.94, 16.2 innings, 8 strikeouts
3/21-RHP Casey Gaynor/1-3, 4.13, 28.1 innings, 32 strikeouts
3/22-TBA
Brown Named BIG EAST Pitcher Of The Week; Morris Earns Spot On Weekly Honor Roll
For the second time this season, the Red Storm baseball team earned two weekly honors from the BIG EAST Conference as senior lefty George Brown was named the Pitcher of the Week and sophomore Tim Morris was named to honor roll.
Brown (3-0) earned a win against Albany after allowing just one run and striking out a career-high 10 in 6.0 innings of work. The senior bested his previous career mark of six strikeouts after just the first three innings. Brown scattered three hits, struck out the side once and had two strikeouts in an inning three times. Starting with the final out of the second inning, Brown retired 10 consecutive batters.
This is second BIG EAST honor of the season for Brown. The lefty was named to the honor roll following a similiar performance in the opening weekend of play. Brown allowed just one run and surrendered three hits in a 6.0 inning effort against Gardner-Webb.
Morris, meanwhile, earns his first career BIG EAST honor after a career week. The first baseman batted .600 (6-for-10) and had a slugging percentage of 1.000 in four games. The sophomore's week got off to an impressive start when he was asked to pinch hit with the Red Storm trailing LIU 8-6 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Morris proceeded to belt a two-out two-run pinch hit home run before St. John's went on to win 9-8 in ten innings.
Morris continued his hot-hitting week during a double-header against Fairfield. In the opening game, the first baseman was 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI. The sophomore was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the second game.
