The St. John’s baseball team dropped three of four at Liberty to close out its 14-game season-opening road trip.
The Red Storm (5-9) received good pitching performances throughout most of the weekend, but errors plagued the Johnnies as they committed 14 team errors and gave up nine unearned runs as they lost the series.
“A good baseball club doesn’t give up runs,” head coach Ed Blankmeyer said. “Especially in baseball, you make them earn what they get. They hit you and they beat you. They hit your guys, you make adjustments and get somebody else in there. But when you walk batters and compound it with some errors – [it was] not necessarily the walks, but the errors that killed us.”
St. John’s 3, Liberty 1
On the last day of the four game set the Red Storm defeated the Flames 3-1 on March 11 behind some good pitching and the bat of Sean O’Hare. O’Hare went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI. Eddie Medina started for the Red Storm and went four innings, giving up one hit and striking out four while walking five.
In relief of Medina, Stephen River threw 3.2 innings of no-hit ball and struck out four. The Johnnies added an insurance run in the ninth off the bat of Robert Case while James Lomangino closed it out in the ninth for his third save.
Liberty 4, St. John’s 1
All four of Liberty’s runs were unearned as the Flames defeated St. John’s 4-1 in the second leg of a March 10 doubleheader.
Matt Carasiti started for the Johnnies and scattered five hits, gave up four runs and struck out five in 5.2 innings. He retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced.
The bullpen of Kevin Kilpatrick and Anthony Cervone kept the Flames at bay but the bats for the Johnnies couldn’t get going. Jeremy Baltz launched a solo home run in the second to give the Johnnies the lead, but that was the only production the Red Storm received all day. Baltz went 2-for-4 on the day.
Liberty 7, St. John’s 4
In the first game of the March 10 doubleheader, the Flames took advantage of six Johnnies errors and won 7-4. Sean Hagan pitched six innings and gave up four runs (three earned) as he took his first loss of the season.
The first five batters for the Flames reached in the third inning as the hosts got out to an early 3-0 lead.
The Johnnies struck back in the fourth with an RBI double off the wall in left by Baltz. The comeback continued in the sixth as the Johnnies tied it up when they loaded the bases with no outs and Baltz, who went 3-for-3 with a walk, had an RBI single and Zach Lauricella hit a single up the middle to tie the game.
But the Flames answered in the bottom of the frame as Andy Smith hit a homer to put them back ahead 4-3. Three errors in the eighth allowed the Flames to take a 7-3 lead, which proved to be enough.
Liberty 12, St. John’s 2
The first game of the series on March 9 was by far the worst defeat suffered by the Johnnies this season. After the Red Storm staked themselves to a 1-0 lead in the first, Liberty scored 8 unanswered runs and cruised to a 12-2 victory.
Wessinger was 2-for-4 with an RBI and was the only St. John’s player with multiple hits. Junior Kyle Hansen (0-4) started and
gave up six runs in five innings of work. Liberty starter John Niggli pitched eight innings of two run ball to secure the win.
The Red Storm return to Queens to host Farleigh Dickinson in their home opener on March 14 before hosting the Red Storm Baseball Tournament this weekend against Albany and Holy Cross.
