With two outs in the seventh inning of Sunday’s baseball game, St. John’s pitcher Kyle Hansen handed the ball to Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer and left the game after allowing his third solo home run of the day.
He left the game with his team down 4-2 and entrusted the final innings to his bullpen and offense-albeit one that had left six runners on base to that point-and he would be sitting awhile.
Seven other pitchers would take the mound for St. John’s after Hansen, and six more innings would be played between the Red Storm and West Virginia. Once St. John’s tied the game in the eighth inning, both teams remained deadlocked before
each team traded three-run eleventh
innings. The Mountaineers broke through with three runs in the 13th and took down the Johnnies 10-8.
“You can’t neglect to tell them that the effort was there, but the performance wasn’t good,” Blankmeyer said.
“There were opportunities to win this ballgame-like getting the ball down on the bunt, we fouled off a couple hit-and-runs, we missed a couple signs. That’s not good baseball.”
Hansen threw 6 2/3 innings and allowed solo home runs in the fifth, six, and seventh innings, striking out four and walking one.
“Outside of the couple mistakes he made,” Blankmeyer said, “I think he pitched pretty well.”
Eddie Medina, Ryan Cole and Daniel Burawa combined to throw 3 1/3 shutout innings in relief and kept the deficit to two runs.
Following an RBI double from junior third
baseman Greg Hopkins in the bottom of the eighth inning, sophomore second baseman Matt Wessinger hit a soft ground ball that went through the legs of first baseman Justin McDavid and tied the game.
In the top of the 11th,sophomore Stephen Rivera relieved Burawa and gave up a one-out triple over the head of senior right fielder Jimmy Parque-who initially misread the fly ball – to Brady Wilson, who would later score on a two-run single from Dom Hayes.
Parque, however, would redeem himself at the plate in the next inning with a two-out, two-RBI double to right field that scored Panik and freshman outfielder Jeremy Baltz to tie the game.
But West Virginia took the lead in the top of the 13th after a bases-loaded walk to McDavid and third baseman Colin Durbow put the dagger in the Red Storm on a two-run single moments later.
“We are inconsistent,” Blankmeyer said. “I guess that’s the best word right now. We swing the bats well at time and then we go into a funk and we don’t swing the bats. We just have to get better.”
St. John’s 8, West Virginia 7
St. John’s sent eight men to the plate in the third inning and scored five runs to take an early 6-3 lead Saturday, but preserving it would not be easy.
Red Storm starter Nick Cenatiempo lasted just 3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits. West Virginia cut the lead to 6-4 in the fifth when Kevin Griffin singled in McDavid, and though St. John’s extended the lead by adding a run in the bottom of the inning, the Mountaineers would not go quietly.
West Virginia scored two runs in the top of the eighth off Sean Hagen and Burawa, but he would close the door in the ninth despite allowing a leadoff single.
St. John’s 11, West Virginia 3
The Red Storm got off to a fast start on Friday against the Mountaineers in the 11-3 series-opening win, as Bruce Kern struck out a career-high 12 batters and the team stole six bases.
Kern threw seven innings and allowed two earned runs. Baltz went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI.
The Red Storm broke the game open in the third, scoring four runs on two hits and three West Virginia errors. They tacked on a run in the fifth before a three-run seventh and a two-run eighth.
