Despite a less-than-stellar effort, St. John’s baseball was able to walk away with an 8-4 win against Fairfield on Tuesday.
“Today’s effort wasn’t that good,” coach Ed Blankmeyer said. “We didn’t come ready to play.”

Starting pitcher Miguel Valcarcel had a rough outing, allowing Fairfield to score two runs in both the first and second innings. St. John’s was there to counter, however, and after two complete frames Fairfield was ahead by one.

Nick Cenatiempo was effective in anchoring the defense and allowing St. John’s to take the lead on the offensive side, pitching five innings of zero run, four hit ball. The Red Storm was able to capitalize on opportunities in the fourth and seventh innings, holding Fairfield scoreless for the remainder of the game and adding another five runs of their own.

Ryan Cole pitched a scoreless eighth and Colin Lynch threw a scoreless ninth, each striking out one and allowing one walk.
St. John’s got significant contributions from the bottom of the order, as the seven through nine spots combined for five hits in nine at-bats.

Although St. John’s walked away with the win, they committed three errors throughout the contest. Blankmeyer attributed the sloppy play to the rigorous schedule that collegiate teams play.

“More than any sport, you play a lot of baseball in college,” he said. “We’re in the middle of six games in the next seven days. You have to be strong both mentally and physically.”

The Red Storm continue their busy schedule with a double header against Farleigh Dickinson Wednesday and a three-game series against conference foe Pittsburgh over the weekend.