The St. John’s Baseball Team continued their remarkable season by winning the Big East championship and securing a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The 4-2 victory over the Georgetown Hoyas on May 25 marks the Red Storm’s first conference title since 2018. With the win, the team will head to Charlottesville as the third seed and face Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The path to the championship saw the Johnnies survive two high-scoring bouts. First, an 11-9 win against Georgetown and a nail-biting 8-7 finish over Xavier in the second round.
Redshirt freshman Evan Chaffee made his twelfth start of the season and only allowed one earned run in the six innings he pitched.
That lone run came early when Georgetown’s junior catcher Owen Carapellotti singled in the first run to go up 1-0 in the third inning. At the end of three innings, the Hoyas only had one hit plus no errors while the Johnnies offense was blanked with no hits and no errors.
Situational hitting prevailed for St. John’s as redshirt senior infielder Blake Mayberry brought in the tying run on a ground-out in the sixth inning. At the end of the sixth inning, the game remained tied at 1-1 with both teams sporting identical statistics: two hits and no errors for both squads.
This tie did not last long as the Red Storm put up two runs in the bottom of the seventh and another in the eighth, scoring three unanswered runs and now possessing a 4-1 lead.
Coach Mike Hampton relied on redshirt sophomore pitcher Xavier Kolhosser to pitch the final three innings excellently. Kolhosser only allowed one hit which ended up being a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning.
This home run didn’t amount to anything as the Johnnies held on to this lead and won 4-2. They ended the game with three hits, no errors and the Hoyas had three hits, one error. Kolhosser received the win, his ninth of the year.
St. John’s doesn’t have much time to celebrate as the team will quickly turn around to face Mississippi State in the first NCAA tournament round on May 31 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
