April 30, 2008

Box Score

QUEENS, N.Y. - The No. 24 Red Storm baseball team sent 12 men to the plate in an eight run seventh inning to surge past FDU, 18-5. Gino Matias had four hits, while Daniel Benedetti was 2-for-3 with three RBI to lead St. John's (32-10). Jeff Grantham and Tim Morris were each 3-for-3 with a two RBI and Chris Anninos was 2-for-4 with two RBI also for the Red Storm. Zachary Sand and Matt Maher had two RBI apiece for FDU (9-32).

St. John's got on the board with a pair of runs in the second. Anninos and Carlos Del Rosario each walked to open the inning. Greg Hopkins then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move up both runners. After an RBI groundout by Benedetti, Del Rosario stole third and advanced home on an errant throw that got past the third baseman.

Matias led off the third with a double and Grantham followed with a walk to give St. John's two on with no outs. Paul Karmas then singled over the shortstop's head to bring in Matias. Gil Zayas followed with an RBI groundout to put St. John's up 4-0.

St. John's starter Ryan Cole, meanwhile, retired the first eight batters and 11 of the first 13. The righty also needed just 19 pitches to get through the first two innings and 36 pitches through three innings.

FDU got on the board with a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game at 4-4.

In the fifth inning, the Red Storm retook the lead. Karmas, Zayas, Anninos and Carlos Del Rosario each walked to open the inning, plating one run in the process and leaving the bases loaded. Benedetti followed with a sacrifice fly to put St. John's up 6-4.

The Knights answered with a run in the sixth to make it a 6-5 game.

The Red Storm added a run in the sixth to make it a 7-5 game. Matias singled and advanced to second on an error to open the inning. Grantham then pushed Matias to third with a sacrifice bunt. Karmas followed with an RBI groundout to plate Matias.

In the seventh, though, the Red Storm sent 12 men to the plate and broke the game open with eight runs. Del Rosario doubled to lead off the inning and Hopkins followed with a single. After a wild pitch plated Del Rosario and moved Hopkins to third, Benedetti singled to bring Hopkins home. FDU went to the bullpen and pinch hitter Tom La Stella greeted reliever Michael Strachman with an RBI double. After a fly out moved pinch runner Michael Aicardi to third, Grantham singled to bring home Aicardi and Karmas followed with a walk. Morris and Anninos each followed with RBI singles before an error on a grounder brought in the final two runs of the inning.

St. John's added three more runs in the eighth to go up 18-5. Matias doubled with one out and Grantham followed with an RBI single. With two outs, Morris brought home Grantham with an RBI single and Anninos then tripled to bring home Morris.

Notes: Morris has hit safely in five straight at-bats ... Matias had a career-high four hits ... Karmas had his team-leading tenth multi-RBI game ... St. John's is now 26-2 when scoring first.