St. John’s Baseball’s seniors celebrated an 8-4 win on May 6 over the Stony Brook Seawolves.
The mid-week matchup opened with a ceremony honoring the Johnnies’ outgoing upperclassmen Jackson Tucker, Jared Beebe, Jace Jeremiah, Luke Orbon, Sam Mettert, Dylan Johnson and Joe Mascio. The Red Storm would look to keep their winning streak alive after a win over Iona and a three-game sweep over Georgetown.
Usually a relief pitcher, freshman Tyler Longoria made his first start of the season for St. John’s. He would pick up the win in his brief outing, pitching three innings and allowing no runs on two hits and one walk.
Matt Sgambati took the mound for the Seawolves, picking up a loss in just 1 ½ innings, allowing three runs on four hits and two walks.
After a scoreless first inning: two singles, a fielder’s choice and a walk would load the bases for Jon LeGrande. He would hit a base hit to left field, scoring two runs. The Johnnies would get another run on an RBI ground-out from Tucker for a 3-0 lead.
Tucker would make history in the bottom of the fourth inning. After getting on base when second baseman Johnny Pilla dropped a routine pop-up, he would steal second and third base on back-to-back pitches, earning him a St. John’s program-leading 95 stolen bases.
The Red Storm would score another three runs in the same inning. After the two stolen bases, Beebe would draw a walk to put runners on the corners. Shaun McMillan would bring the runners in on a triple off the outfield wall for a 5-0 lead. Will Cowan would add on the third run on a sacrifice fly to bring in McMillan.
St. John’s would continue scoring in the bottom of the sixth, scoring two for an 8-0 lead. Tucker would get on base after another fielding error from the Stony Brook defense. Jeremiah followed up with a single. After a double steal, sophomore catcher Sean Britt hit a comebacker to the pitcher, Vincent Mariella, who threw the ball away, giving up two unearned runs on the Seawolves’ second error of the inning.
Stony Brook would score four consolation runs in the final two innings. After opening the top of the eighth with three walks, Erik Paulsen hit a single to right field to score their first run of the game. Nico Azpilcueta followed up with another single up the middle to score another two runs.
Their fourth and final run would be scored in the ninth on a wild pitch from Johnson, bringing in Nicholas Solorzano.
The Johnnies’ pitcher would soon secure the win after making Cam Santerre pop up to first base to end the game 8-4.
The win over Stony Brook extends the Red Storm win streak to five games, going into an important series versus Villanova. It will also be the final home series of the regular season.
