May 27, 2005

Box Score

Bridgewater, NJ - Second-seeded Boston College scored two runs in the sixth inning and senior right-hander Joe Martinez yielded four runs over seven innings as the Eagles posted a 7-5 win over No. 23 St. John's, eliminating the Red Storm from the BIG EAST Championship at Commerce Bank Ballpark on Friday.

The loss is the second-straight for the Red Storm, who fall to 39-16 overall. It is only the first time St. John's has lost back-to-back games since March 12-13, and only the third time all season the team has lost two-straight.

St. John's had cut a 4-1 BC lead to 4-3 in the fifth, but the Eagles extended the lead back to three runs with two off of junior reliever Craig Hasnen (Glen Cove, NY). Leadoff batter Ryan Hutchinson was walked, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored when Drew Locke delivered a single through the left side. Locke stole two bases and scored on a suicide squeeze bunt from Jared McGuire.

The Red Storm scored single runs in the seventh on Antoniato's RBI fielder's choice, but BC came right back and extended the lead to 7-4 with a run off of redshirt freshman reliever James Lally (Floral Park, NY). St. John's put two runners on base with two out in the eighth and junior Will Vogl (Pacifica, CA) hit an RBI single to score senior Blake Hershelman (Georgetown, DE), who had walked to start the rally, but could not get any more. Boston College reliever Kevin Boggan put two runners on in the ninth, giving up a single to junior Greg Thomson (Levittown, NY) and walking redshirt sophomore Chris Joachim (Massapequa Park, NY), but he retired the final two batter of the game as BC advanced.

The Red Storm jumped on top in the first inning, with Joachim hitting a single to shortstop, scoring senior shortstop P.J. Antoniato (Levittown, NY), who had hit a one-out double.

St. John's sophomore starter Anthony Sullivan (Arlington, MA), however, got into trouble in the first, giving up a leadoff single to Dave Preziosi and walking Drew Locke. Sullivan retired the next two batters, but Shawn McGill delivered a single up the middle, scoring both runners and giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

Drew Locke hit a leadoff double in the third and scored when Kevin Delaney singled up the middle. After hitting McGill, Sullivan was relieved by Hansen, who walked Mike Flynn to load the bases, but struck out Marco Albano to end the inning. The Eagles lead grew to 4-1 in the fourth when Preziosi reached on a bunt single, stole second, moved to third on a fielder's choice and scored when Delaney punched a single up the middle.

The Red Storm got two runs back in the fifth, cutting the Boston College lead to 4-3. Sophomore Anthony Smith (Katonah, NY) hit a leadoff double to right and Martinez hit Vogl with a pitch before a balk moved the runners to second and third with none out. An Antoniato single to left and a fielder's choice from Thomson brought in the runners as the lead shrank to one run.

Antoniato finished 3-for-5 with a double, two singles and two RBI to lead St. John's and Vogl went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI.

St. John's will now await the NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday, which will be televised on ESPN at 11:30 a.m.