Ryan McAuliffe, St. John's (photo credit Bob Rinker)
No. 4 St. John’s Moves On With 4-1 Win Over No. 3 Seton Hall
BOX SCORE
ABERDEEN, Md. – In the first elimination game of the 2016 BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by Jeep, fourth-seeded St. John’s sent home local foe Seton Hall, 4-1. Junior righty Ryan McAuliffe pitched seven innings and gave up four hits for the Red Storm, who scored twice in the fourth and once in the fifth and eighth at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
With the win, St. John’s moves on to Saturday’s 3 p.m. game against the loser of Friday night’s Creighton-Xavier contest. Seton Hall has finished its run in the tournament, with a loss last night to Creighton and Friday’s loss to the Red Storm.
St. John’s right fielder Anthony Brocato finished 2-for-4 with an RBI. Michael Donadio went 1-for-3 with a walk, and a run scored. Infielders Josh Shaw, John Valente and Mark Venice each picked up a hit and scored a run. Centerfielder Alex Caruso went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
McAuliffe (5-2) earned the win for St. John’s (28-25-1) as he walked two and struck out five. From the last out in the first through the fourth, he had retired eight-straight batters. He also worked a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. Reliever Joe Napolitano came onto the mound in the ninth to earn the save, his second of the year. Napolitano retired the Pirates in order, striking out Seton Hall’s No. 5 hitter Joe Poduslenko for the first out.
Zack Weigel was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored for Seton Hall (38-20) and Matt Fortin went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Zach Prendergast (5-7) took the loss after surrendering three runs in 7.0 innings of work.
Scoreless through three, Valente led off the fourth frame for St. John’s with a single before Donadio singled to quickly set up runners on first and third with no outs. An errant pickoff attempt at first allowed Valente to score from third before Brocato made it a 2-0 ballgame with a two-out RBI single.
Seton Hall answered in the bottom of the inning when Weigel hit a one-out double to right and scored on the next at bat when Fortin hit a single through the right side.
The Pirates had six base runners over the next five innings. In the eighth, Seton Hall stranded two.
St. John’s added two more runs, one in the fifth as a Caruso single scored pinch-hitter Mark Venice, and an unearned run in the eighth when Shaw scored on a Seton Hall error in the outfield.