The Red Storm’s magical run through the NCAA Tournament came to a deflating conclusion this weekend. St. John’s was swept by national-seventh-seed Alabama in the Tuscaloosa Super Regional, two wins away from their first College World Series appearance since 1980.
After thwarting Florida State twice to sweep through the Tallahassee Regional, the Red Storm were outmatched against the Crimson Tide, getting outscored 15-2 in two games.
In front of a record crowd at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Game 1, the
St. John’s offense could only muster two hits in an 8-0 shutout on Saturday night. Tyler Fay was simply masterful, tossing 7.1 scoreless innings and striking out nine hitters in what was the final home start for the MLB draft-bound Alabama starter. Seven of the nine Crimson Tide starting hitters recorded a hit, including All-American shortstop Justin Lebron, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a double.
St. John’s appeared to have a chance to steal Game 2 in the late innings. Former Crimson Tide pitcher Evan Chaffee tossed six innings and only allowed three runs in his return to Tuscaloosa. Meanwhile, Jon LeGrande drove in Rob Mansour with an RBI in the third inning, and Adam Agresti walloped his 20th home run of the season to cut Alabama’s lead down to 3-2 entering the seventh inning. However, Jason Torres put the series to bed with a grand slam over the right field wall in the top of the seventh.
When play resumed after a lightning delay suspended action until Monday afternoon, Evan Hoeckele delivered two scoreless innings and struck out three hitters to hold Alabama’s lead at five, but the Red Storm only notched one hit in the final two frames.
Monday’s season-ending loss to Alabama doesn’t take away from the Red Storm’s incredible 2026 season. The Red Storm claimed their tenth Big East regular season title, captured their conference-record 11th Big East tournament title, reached the Super Regionals for the first time since 2012, and became the 12th regional fourth-seed to ever advance to the Supers in NCAA Tournament history.
These accomplishments are all the more impressive given the uphill circumstances St. John’s had to overcome. Although the Big East is considered a power conference in basketball, the same cannot be said for baseball, where each team operates with recruiting resources commensurate with those in a mid-major league.
Instead of chasing top-100 recruits, Big East teams like the Johnnies search for underrecruited players in the high school ranks or scour the lower NCAA divisions and junior colleges. The Red Storm’s ace Liam O’Leary transferred from Lackawanna College in Pennsylvania this season, and their speedy starting center fielder Jon LeGrande came from Wabash Valley College in Illinois.
If budgetary constraints weren’t enough, St. John’s had to navigate New York City’s brutal winter. The Red Storm spent most of the preseason training indoors, traveled on the road for the first three weeks of the season, and only played 21 of their 62 games at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
St. John’s finished their 2026 season with a 36-26 record, their fourth consecutive winning campaign. Next year, they seek to reach back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 2017 and 2018.
