Led by one of the strongest pitching staffs in the country, the St. John’s baseball team extended its winning streak to 12 games after a three-game sweep of Georgetown at Jack Kaiser Stadium this past weekend.
The Johnnies (26-10, 9-0 Big East) only gave up five runs across the three games, winning 6-3, 9-1, and 2-1 (F/10).
In game one on Friday, Sean Mooney continued his solid sophomore campaign by punching out seven over five scoreless frames. With the win, Mooney improved to 8-1 on the season.
Manager Ed Blankmeyer relied on his bullpen to protect the lead. Blankmeyer called on left-hander Joe LaSorsa to start the sixth. The 6-foot-5 sophomore surrendered three runs on five hits in three innings of relief.
Turner French earned his first save of the season, striking out one in a perfect ninth. In 15 appearances, the junior left-hander has yet to allow an earned run.
Third baseman John Valente continues to swing a hot bat. The New Rochelle, N.Y. native went 3-5 with an RBI, extending his on-base streak to 49. Second baseman Josh Shaw also collected three hits for the Johnnies.
Designated hitter Robert Boselli III drove in two runs for the Red Storm. The senior power-hitter launched his second homer of the season to lead off the home-half of the seventh.
The Red Storm led the Hoyas 4-0 heading into the sixth. However, Georgetown (14-21, 2-4 Big East) drove in two runs in the top-half of sixth. But the Red Storm answered, scoring runs in the sixth and seventh innings to extend its lead to four.
In game two, St. John’s star lefthander Kevin Magee pitched six scoreless innings. He only surrendered five hits, walked none and struck out seven en route to his third straight win. Through more than 57 innings, Kevin Magee has yet to give up a home run. Magee now owns a 5-3 record and a 1.57 ERA after Saturday’s outing.
Blankmeyer then turned to Gavin Hollowell in the top of the seventh inning. The sophomore retired all six batters he faced.
After not being able to get on base in four at-bats in game two, Valente knocked a double to extend the streak to 50. Valente leads the team in batting average (.390) and hits (55).
The Red Storm went to work in the bottom of the seventh. Five and six hitters Anthony Brocato and Luke Stampfl homered back-to-back, putting the Johnnies up 7-0. Brocato now has seven homers on the season. Stampfl had three hits on the afternoon and drove in a run.Wyatt Mascarella also went a perfect 4-for-4.
The first two games came in lopsided fashion, but Georgetown gave St. John’s all they could handle on Sunday.
Both teams only could muster up one run apiece in regulation and remained tied at one heading into the bottom of the tenth before Jamie Galazin laid down a bunt with John Greene sitting in third base. Greene found himself caught in a rundown, before avoiding a tag and sliding into home plate safe for the game-winning run.
Michael LoPresti pitched six innings while only giving up one run. Hollowell then pitched an inning and a third only giving up one hit and got the win on the day. Hollowell now has a 2-0 record on the season. The other run of the day came off a sacrifice fly from Stamfl, which drove in Boselli III.
The series sweep is the Red Storm’s third conference sweep of the season. The other two came against Villanova and Creighton.
The team will now take a break from conference play when they take on LIU-Brooklyn at home on April 25 at 3 p.m.
