It doesn’t matter the decade or the era, St. John’s will find a way to affirm their place at the top of the Big East baseball food chain.
The Red Storm secured their league-best 11th conference title and punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament by defeating Creighton on Sunday, 5-3. As a result of claiming the Big East’s auto-bid, the Johnnies earned a spot in the Tallahassee Regional, which features 10th national-seeded Florida State, Coastal Carolina, and Northern Illinois. They will face the Seminoles
in the first round on Friday afternoon (3 p.m., ACC Network).
Heavy rain in southwestern Ohio was the only thing that could stop the Red Storm this week, as they won all three of their games in the double-elimination tournament despite a tight schedule due to multiple postponements. First pitch for their title-deciding game against Creighton was tossed right after 9 a.m. Eastern time, instead of the original Saturday afternoon start time.
In the Red Storm’s first game on Thursday afternoon, Liam O’Leary backpacked St. John’s to a 4-2 victory over Creighton. The junior right-hander threw a staggering 137 pitches in eight innings of work, only surrendering two earned runs, seven hits, and three walks while striking out six Bluejay batters.
The Johnnies didn’t need their pitching staff to spin a gem in their next game, scoring a program conference tournament record 17 runs to demolish Xavier in their home away from home. All nine starting hitters recorded a hit, six of which had multi-hit games, and designated hitter Will Cowan mashed two home runs and piled up a career-high seven RBIs in the win.
One day later in the title-deciding game, Cowan was the hero once again, driving in the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Pitchers Ian Mowad, Tyler Longoria, Victor Frederick, and Evan Hoeckele each split multiple innings and held the Bluejays to three runs (two earned), seven hits, and one walk.
After losing ten of their first eleven games to start their season, the Red Storm have since gone 32-14 and won the Big East regular season title with a 15-6 conference record.
St. John’s are set to make their 39th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, tying the Red Storm for the 11th most among Division I programs. They have also reached six College World Series, making their last trip in 1980.
