June 4, 2005

Corvallis, OR - The St. John's University baseball game against Oregon State in the winner's bracket of the Corvallis Regional of the 2005 NCAA Tournament will be broadcast live on the St. John's Athletics site on Saturday night.

First pitch is slated for 9 p.m. (ET) and 6 p.m. (PT). Fans interested in listening to the game should visit www.RedStormSports.com. A short pregame show may be available approximately 10-15 minutes prior to first pitch featuring a game preview with Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer.

Calling the play-by-play will be Steve Tannen, the host of "Sports Talk" on KPNW 1120 AM NewsRadio in Albany, Oregon. Tannen is a native of Wayne, New Jersey who attended William Patterson College before moving to the Northwest.

St. John's, ranked No. 29 by Collegiate Baseball, advanced to the winner's bracket after a 5-3 win over Virginia on Friday afternoon. The Red Storm, an at-large selection to the tournament for the second-straight year, are the third seed in the regional, while the Cavaliers, seeded second, were an at-large representative from the ACC.

In Friday's game, junior pitcher Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, NY) made his first start in two years, throwing seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. The All-American closer, who had 14 saves this season and is a finalist for the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association Stopper of the Year Award, improved to 3-2 with the win.

After only one hit in the first four innings, St. John's had 10 hits in the last five innings, led by the top-third of the lineup, which hit a combined 7-for-13, scored three runs and drove in four. Four batters had at least two hits, led by junior Will Vogl (Pacifica, CA), who went 3-for-4 with three singles and an RBI. Senior catcher Joe Burke (Brooklyn, NY) scored two runs and had two hits, senior shortstop P.J. Antoniato (Levittown, NY) drove in three runs with two singles and redshirt sophomore Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, NY) went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple.

St. John's will start senior right-hander Jim Wladyka (Rutherford, NJ). A third-team All-BIG EAST selection, Wladyka is 7-2 this year with a 3.05 earned run average. He has started 15 games, throwing a team-high 85.2 innings. Wladyka has given up 39 runs (29 earned) on 67 hits with 27 walks and 73 strikeouts.

Oregon State, ranked No. 3 in the country by Collegiate Baseball, enters tonight's game with a 42-9 record. The top-seeded team in the four-team regional, they topped Big 10 Champion Ohio State on Friday with a walk-off home run from Shea McFeely in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Beavers a 4-3 win.

Sophomore right-hander Jonah Nickerson is expected to take the hill for Oregon State. Nickerson is 8-1 this year with a 2.13 earned run average. He has thrown 88.2 innings, giving up 31 runs (21 earned) on 67 hits with 27 walks and 96 strikeouts, second on the team.

The Beavers have a team batting average of nearly .315 and posted a team earned run average of 3.02. Oregon State has a 22-4 record at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, where they have averaged more than 2,000 fans per game in the last four.