Published: May 25, 2007
BROOKLYN, N.Y.
Connecticut's Matt Untiet hit a walk-off solo home run in the
bottom of the 10th inning, and the eighth-seeded Huskies knocked
No. 1 seed St. John's out of the BIG EAST Tournament with an 8-7
win on Thursday night. Untiet, who lifted the Huskies into the
postseason with a game-winning single at Notre Dame in their
regular season finale, went to the opposite field off closer Colin
Lynch for the final blow in a thriller at KeySpan Park.
The Huskies fought back from 4-0 and 6-2 deficits with a
five-run seventh inning and walked off with a win after senior
Sam DeLuca forced extra innings with an RBI single in the top
of the eighth.
With the loss, St. John's fell to 40-17 on the year, while
Connecticut improved to 31-27 and advanced to the tournament
semifinals to face No. 5 seed South Florida. The Huskies defeated
the Red Storm for the first time in five all-time BIG EAST
Championship meetings and for the third time in five tries during
the 2007 season.
Chris Anninos had a career-high four hits and drove in three of
the Red Storm's seven runs. Freshman
Brian Kemp had a 3-for-4 day, tied a career-high with three
stolen bases and scored two runs. After UConn took a 7-6 lead with
a five-run seventh inning, Kemp scored on DeLuca's RBI single to
tie the game and force extra innings.
Ryan Mahoney drove in two runs on a double off the left field
wall in the top half of the seventh, giving St. John's a 6-2
advantage. The double pushed Mahoney's season RBI total to 58, tied
for the third-most in school history.
Starting pitcher
George Brown left with a 4-2 lead and got a no-decision,
allowing nine hits and two runs over 5.1 innings. Reliever
Colin Lynch was tagged with his first loss of the year and blew
his first save when he allowed a pair of runs to score in the
seventh.
St. John's scored two runs in the first inning and opened up an
eventual 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Kemp led off the game
with a double into the right field corner and scored on an RBI
single by
Gil Zayas. Anninos also hit a single in the first and drove in
runs with base hits in the third and fifth innings. On an RBI
single by Anninos in the fifth,
Anthony Smith scored from second when Huskies catcher Larry Day
was called for obstruction at home plate.
UConn scored its first run in the bottom half of the fifth and
then added one more in the sixth and five in the seventh to take
its first lead. Prior to the big five-run inning, Mahoney ripped a
two-run double off the left field wall to open up a four-run St.
John's cushion, 6-2.
Gordon Stevens ignited the Huskies' seventh-inning rally with a
two-run triple to the deepest part of the ballpark, and the Huskies
eventually loaded the bases on an intentional walk to cleanup
hitter Dennis Donovan. Lynch walked in the tying run, and a
groundout to third base by Pat Mahoney gave the Huskies a 7-6
advantage.
The Red Storm bounced right back on an RBI single to center
field by DeLuca. The Red Storm's leadoff hitter, Kemp, was hit by a
David Erickson pitch to lead off the inning, and the freshman stole
his third base of the night to get into scoring position with one
out. DeLuca fought off a 3-2 pitch from Erickson into center field
to tie the game at 7-7.
Lynch struck out the first two batters he faced in the UConn
half of the 10th, but Untiet lined the sophomore's first offering
over the wall in left-center. Lynch was tagged with his first loss
of the year, as the Huskies advanced to face South Florida in
Friday's tournament semifinals.
St. John's now awaits word on a potential NCAA Tournament berth,
which comes on ESPN on Monday at 12:30 p.m.