May 26, 2004

Bridgewater, N.J. - Three St. John's University student-athletes earned all-conference honors at the BIG EAST Baseball Tournament banquet, held at the Doubletree Hotel Wednesday night.

Two players - junior catcher Joe Burke (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and sophomore pitcher Anthony Varvaro (Staten Island, N.Y.) - earned second team honors, while senior shortstop Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.) was named third team.

Burke, one of the top catchers in the league, is batting .326 and is fifth on the team in hits with 56. He has scored 26 runs, hit eight doubles and driven in 24 runs this season.

Varvaro has been one of the top starting pitchers in the league, carrying a 7-3 record with a 4.08 earned run average. He is 4-3 in BIG EAST play and his 2.66 earned run average ranks third in the BIG EAST in conference only games.

Rozema, a first-team selection and third-team All-American selection last year, is sixth on the team among all starters with a .327 average. He is third on the team in hits with 66, fourth on the team in runs scored with 40 and leads the team with 21 stolen bases.

St. John's finished the regular season 35-19 overall and 17-9 in BIG EAST play, second overall. The 35 wins are the most for a Red Storm team since winning 35 during the 1997 season, while the 17 conference wins are the most since St. John's won 18 during the 1991 season.

Second seeded St. John's will face No. 3 seed Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.