Michael LoPresti, St. John's
No. 2 Seed St. John's Advances To #BIGEASTbase Championship Sunday with 10-2 Win over Top-Seed Creighton
Omaha, Neb. – No. 2 seed St. John’s exploded for 10 runs and turned in a dominant pitching performance, eliminating No. 1 seed Creighton with a 10-2 win at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha on Elimination Saturday of the 2017 BIG EAST Baseball Championship, Presented by Jeep.
The Red Storm (42-10) earned a rematch with Xavier tomorrow afternoon, scheduled for a 1 p.m. ET first pitch with the Musketeers on FS2. If the Red Storm can claim victory in that contest, another game will be played for the BIG EAST title approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of the first outing.
Creighton's loss eliminated the Bluejays from the BIG EAST Baseball Championship and ended their season at 24-25. Creighton will finish their season as the 2017 BIG EAST Regular Season Champions.
St. John’s sophomore hurler Michael LoPresti delivered one of the best performances of his Red Storm tenure when his team needed it the most, allowing just two runs and five hits over a career-high seven innings while striking out five and walking one. The Wayne, N.J., native threw 100 pitches, 67 of them for strikes, to improve to 6-1 on the season.
St. John's needed only four hits to take a 6-0 lead through its first two times at bat. Creighton also walked four batters and committed three errors through the opening two frames.
After running into trouble in the fourth, St. John's starter Michael LoPresti retired the final 11 Bluejays he faced. LoPresti went 7.0 innings, allowed five hits and two runs, walked one and struck out five while earning his sixth victory of the season (6-1).
St. John’s freshman right-hander Gavin Hollowell tossed two scoreless innings to close out the contest, striking out a pair over that stretch while surrendering just one base hit. Combined, LoPresti and Hollowell retired 15-straight Creighton batters between the fourth and ninth innings.
Michael Donadio paced the Red Storm at the dish with a 3-for-5, one RBI effort. Robbie Knightes and Troy Dixon each tallied a pair of hits and an RBI for the Johnnies, while Gui Gingras and Anthony Brocato each drove in a pair of runs on one hit. Gingras delivered the first home run of the tournament for St. John's, sending a towering shot over the right-center field fence for his fourth roundtripper of the year.
Jesse Berardi (1-for-4) drove in a run for the Johnnies, while Jamie Galazin tallied a pair of hits and scored once.
Not a single St. John's batter struck out this afternoon, marking the first time that has happened for the Red Storm since April 1, 2013 in the first game of a doubleheader against NYIT. That game also happened to be the 600th career coaching victory for Ed Blankmeyer.
After scoring just six runs in the tournament's first two days, the Johnnies plated six runs in the first two innings of Saturday's contest. Following a leadoff walk from John Valente and a Donadio groundout to advance the leadoff hitter into scoring position, Berardi ripped an RBI single to right, giving the Red Storm an early 1-0 lead. Next up was Brocato, who smoked a two-bagger to the gap in left center, scoring Berardi and putting the Johnnies up by a pair. A series of fortuitous events then brought home Brocato, as the junior right fielder took third on a wild pitch before coming home on a throwing error by the Creighton catcher, Michael Emodi, to give the Red Storm a 3-0 lead after a half an inning.
Following a 1-2-3 frame from LoPresti, Knightes kicked it off for the Red Storm in the top of the second, singling through the right side with one out. After a Kyle Cunningham walk and a Valente popout, Donadio laced an RBI single to right, extending the Red Storm lead to four and leaving runners on the corners from Berardi. The junior crushed a hard-hit ball to short that Thomas Luevano could not handle, scoring Cunningham and making it 5-0 in favor of the Johnnies. The Bluejays would then surrender two-straight walks, plating one more St. John's run and extending the deficit to six after an inning and a half.
Riley Landuyt launched a two-run homer to left to cut the St. John's advantage to four in the bottom of the second, but the Red Storm responded a few frames later in the top of the fourth, as Brocato brought home Valente with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-2 in favor of the Johnnies.
After Creighton loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, LoPresti settled down and recorded two quick outs to exit the inning unscathed. Over his final three frames, LoPresti would not allow a single Bluejay runner to reach base.
The Johnnies added on three insurance runs in the top of the ninth, as Gingras launched a solo shot while Knightes and Dixon smacked RBI singles.
Creighton senior David Gerber pitched 2.1 innings of relief and allowed one hit and no runs. Gerber finished his career as Creighton's all-time saves (25) and ERA leader (1.95).