Published: March 07, 2007
HOUSTON
The St. John's baseball team went into Rice's Reckling Park on
Tuesday night and put together its best all-around effort of the
season to take down the eighth-ranked Owls, 7-6, and extend its
winning streak to three games.
Ryan Mahoney and
Anthony Smith each homered, freshman pitcher
B.J. Martin shut the Owls down through the late innings, and
the St. John's defense turned four double plays in the win.
The teams went back-and-forth in the middle and late innings,
and the Red Storm protected a two-run lead in the ninth with
runners on second and third with no outs. Sophomore
Colin Lynch worked out of the jam with two groundouts and a
flyout to pick up his first career save and seal a first career win
for the freshman Martin.
Smith homered for the third straight game and Mahoney for the
second straight to drive in three of the team's seven runs. The
first five hitters in the lineup all scored at least one run, led
by leadoff hitter
Brian Kemp's two runs and two stolen bases.
Sam DeLuca drove in the eventual game-winning run with an RBI
single in the ninth, and
Brendan Monaghan hit an RBI single in four at-bats.
Junior left-hander
George Brown started for the Red Storm and allowed one run in
four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. Brown
allowed two runs and was relieved by Martin, who got out of the
inning and worked three more solid innings in defense of a late
lead.
James Lally faced one batter in the ninth, and Lynch got three
big outs to close out the win.
Rice took a 1-0 third-inning lead on an RBI double by shortstop
Brian Friday, and St. John's answered with four straight runs in
the fourth and fifth innings to grab a 4-1 lead. An error by Friday
in the fourth scored DeLuca, who reached on a one-out single, and
extended the inning. Monaghan then hit an infield single to score
Chris Joachim and give the Red Storm its first lead of the
night, 2-1.
Kemp drew a walk with one out in the fifth, and Mahoney followed
with a big blast to right field to extend the St. John's lead to
4-1.
The Owls rallied in the bottom of the fifth, plating two runs
and threatening for more. Brown allowed a run on an RBI single by
Aaron Luna and was chased with the bases loaded and no outs. Martin
gave up just a sacrifice fly and struck out the next two batters to
leave two runners on base and protect a 4-3 lead.
In the top of the sixth, Smith hit his fourth home run of the
season – a solo shot to lead off the inning – to up the Red Storm
lead to 5-3.
The teams exchanged runs in the eighth inning, leaving the score
at 6-4 heading into the ninth. St. John's took a three-run lead on
a fielding error by the Rice shortstop Friday, and the Owls got one
back in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single by third
baseman Diego Seastrunk.
The Red Storm added another valuable run in the ninth to take a
7-4 lead. DeLuca hit an RBI single into center field to score Kemp,
who had reached on an error and stole a base to get into scoring
position.
The insurance run proved valuable in the ninth, as the Owls
scored one run and had runners on second and third with no outs. A
ground rule double by Friday started the inning, and Luna cut into
the lead with a single into left-center field. Lynch entered the
game and surrendered a ground rule double to Joe Savery to put
runners on second and third and no outs. But the sophomore got a
groundout, a fly ball that scored a run and another groundout to
end the game.
Winners of three straight, the Red Storm next faces McNeese
State in a three-game series in Lake Charles, La. The rotation of
LHP
Matt Tosoni, LHP
Scott Barnes and RHP
Jared Yecker is expected to pitch against the Cowboys.