Published: May 24, 2007
BROOKLYN, N.Y.
No. 5 seed South Florida scored a run in the first and made it
hold up against top-seeded and 20th-ranked St. John's on Wednesday
night, blanking the Red Storm 2-0 behind the pitching of Chris
Delaney and Shawn Sanford. The duo combined to pitch just the
second shutout of the year against St. John's, with Delaney picking
up his ninth win and Sanford his 11th save.
With the loss, St. John's fell to 40-16 on the year and moved to
the loser's bracket of the tournament where it will face No. 8 seed
Connecticut, a 5-2 winner over No. 4 Pitt earlier in the afternoon,
at 7 p.m. on Thursday night. The Red Storm was denied a
school-record tying 41st win and a day off, as USF awaits the
winner of St. John's vs. UConn on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m.
In a matchup between starting pitchers
Jared Yecker and Delaney last weekend, the Red Storm tagged the
USF hurler with 10 hits and six runs in a 7-3 victory. On Wednesday
night, Delaney exacted revenge with two hits over 6.1 shutout
innings, while Sanford closed the door with 2.2 hitless innings and
four strikeouts.
Yecker picked up a hard-luck loss, allowing three hits and one
run with three strikeouts and three walks. Freshman
Ryan Cole allowed three hits over 2.2 innings out of the
bullpen.
Catcher
Brendan Monaghan had two of the team's three hits, hitting a
single and a double in four at-bats. Shortstop
Jeff Grantham hit an infield single and was hit by two pitches,
and second baseman
Sam DeLuca saw his career-long 16-game hitting streak come to
an end with an 0-for-4 day.
USF got on the board first on an RBI double by Addison Maruszak
to the warning track in left-center field. Leadoff hitter Walter
Diaz reached on a bunt single and moved to second on a two-out walk
to Dexter Butler, before racing around from second on Maruszak's
12th double. Butler was gunned down at the plate on a relay from
Brian Kemp to Grantham to Monaghan to end the inning.
St. John's mustered just an infield single by Grantham over the
next five innings, but managed base runners in each. The Red Storm
left all six on base, including five in scoring position, as
Delaney worked through some early control problems. In all, St.
John's stranded nine runners to the Bulls' six in the loss.
Yecker pitched into the sixth and gave way to Cole with runners
on second and third and one out in the frame. Cole got a groundball
out to DeLuca at second base and a fielder's choice to end the
threat with two left in scoring position.
Monaghan led off the Red Storm seventh with a double into the
alley in right-center and moved to third on a fly out by Mahoney.
The next batter, Grantham, was hit by a pitch for the second
consecutive at-bat to put runners on first and third with one out.
Delaney was lifted for Shawn Sanford, a
closer-turned-starter-turned-closer, who got a foul pop out by Kemp
and an inning-ending strikeout by
Chris Joachim.
The tying run came to the plate in the ninth when Monaghan
reached on an infield single, but Sanford induced a groundout by
Ryan Mahoney and struck Grantham out swinging to end the
game.
The Red Storm and Huskies meet for the second time in the
tournament and fifth time this season on Thursday at 7 p.m. Junior
left-hander
George Brown (6-2, 2.90 ERA) is expected to take the mound for
St. John's.