April 17, 2008
GAMETRACKER: Game 1
GAMETRACKER: Game 2
GAMETRACKER: Game 3
QUEENS, N.Y. -
Following its fourth-straight BIG EAST series win, the St. John's baseball team travels to Pittsburgh for a three-game BIG EAST series against the Panthers. The series opens on Friday, April 18 with a 3 p.m. first pitch. The teams meet again at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 19 before the finale at Noon on April 20.
St. John's and Pittsburgh have met 54 times since the 1976 season and the Red Storm leads the all-time series, 40-14. St. John's has won the past two meetings and 10 of the past 14 dating back to the 2004 season. Including three consecutive three-game sweeps from 1997-99, the Red Storm has taken at least two of three from Pitt in each of past 10 three-game sets dating back to the 1996 season.
Stat Of The Week
.301: St. John's is batting .301 this season with runners in scoring position.
STORMTRACKER
Six players have at least 20 RBI on the season and four of those players are freshman or newcomers.
In a 19-5 win over Hofstra, Jeff Grantham hit his first career home run and added a career-high six RBI. The game marked the first time that St. John's scored 19 runs since April 17, 2007 against LIU. The Red Storm also pounded out 20 hits for the first time since May 15, 2007 against NYIT.
St. John's is 13-4 in road games this season, including a 5-1 record in BIG EAST action.
With an RBI against Hofstra, Gil Zayas moved into a tie for ninth place all-time with 124 career RBI.
The freshman tandem of Paul Karmas and Greg Hopkins are batting a combined .342 (76-for-222) with 19 doubles, four home runs and 48 RBI. The pair's 48 RBI are good for 23.1 percent of the team's total.
Newcomers to the team have, in fact, combined for 54.8 percent (114-208) of the team's total RBI for the year.
Projected Starters/2008 statistics
LHP Scott Barnes/4-2, 4.27 ERA, 49 strikeouts, 46.1 innings, .201 opp/avg.
LHP George Brown/7-0, 2.45 ERA, 41 strikeouts, 51.1 innings, .225 opp/avg.
RHP Jared Yecker/3-0, 2.63 ERA, 25 strikeouts, 27.1 innings, .196 opp/avg.
Scouting The Pittsburgh Panthers
Pitt enters the series with an overall record of 11-21 and a 3-9 record in BIG EAST play.
The Panthers are coming off of a 17-6 win over Duquesne on Wednesday, April 16.
Among common opponents, Pitt took two of three from Louisville and was swept by Seton Hall. In non-conference action, lost 7-0 in a game against Kent State.
On offense, the Panthers are led by Sean Conley. Conley leads the team with a .336 batting average and also leads the squad with nine home runs and 39 RBI.
Joe Leonard and Danny Lopez each have 19 RBI, while Dan Williams has 18 RBI to go with a team best 11 doubles.
Brian Chrisman leads the staff with nine starts and has a 3-2 record. Chrisman has a 3.31 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 32.2 innings.
Rob Brant is 0-3 with a 4.89 ERA in eight starts, while Nate Reed is 3-5 with a 6.75 ERA in six starts.
