TicketsMay 20, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Will Vogl hit two home runs and drove in a career-high six runs to lead St. John's to a 14-9 win against Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon at the UC Baseball Stadium. The Bearcats finish the regular season with a 32-24 record and a 13-14 mark in their first year in the BIG EAST.
George Brown (4-0) tossed 3.2 innings, allowing just four hits and one run to pick up the win in relief for St. John's (37-17, 16-10 BIG EAST), who will open the 2006 BIG EAST Tournament as the No. 4 seed.
Evan Sanford (0-1) took the loss for the Bearcats.
Vogl led the Red Storm 20-hit attack with three hits, scoring twice. Anthony Smith and Gil Zayas also collected three hits apiece for .
The Bearcats were led by Jon DeLuca, who had three hits and drove in a pair of runs. Adam Yeager, LaFringe Hayes and Josh Harrison each had two hits for UC.
"I think the fact that we were able to come back and get ourselves in the game will add to our momentum heading to the tournament," UC head coach Brian Cleary commented. "I thought it was a great weekend for us and today we played hard, but came up a little short. We are excited to be making the trip to Clearwater and I anticipate we will play well."The Red Storm opened the game with a four-run first inning off senior Bryan Wood. After retiring leadoff man Vogl, batted around, collecting five straight hits, including back to back doubles by Bryan Dirr and Sam Deluca to stake a 4-0 lead.
extended its lead to 6-0 in the top of the fourth when Vogl drilled a two-run homer to left field, scoring Gil Zayas, who had singled with one out.
The Bearcats answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Logan Parker smacked his league-leading seventh triple off the center field wall to lead off the frame and scored four batters later when Hayes reached on an error.
The Red Storm added three more runs an inning later. After four consecutive singles plated a run, Zayas grounded into a double play, scoring Chris Anninos from third. An RBI single by Vogl brought home Brendan Monaghan, giving 's a 9-1 lead.
The Bearcats again responded with seven tallies in the bottom of the fifth. Yeager led off with his second homer of the year to pull UC within 9-2. After a single, three consecutive walks pushed home a run to cut the lead to 9-3. Logan Parker scampered home from third on a wild pitch and Nick Maragas' RBI groundout cut the lead to 9-5. After a Hayes single, Jon DeLuca provided the big knock with a double into the left field corner, scoring two more. Yeager capped the inning with an RBI single, trimming the lead to 9-8.
UC then tied it in the sixth after Brian Szarmach doubled and moved to third on a Maragas groundout. With two outs, Hayes tapped a dribbler past the pitcher and into no man's land, reaching first without a throw and knotting the game at 9-9.
The Red Storm would take the lead right back, scoring in the top of the seventh thanks to a Sam Deluca RBI single.
put the game away with two outs in the top of the eighth. After Sean Munninghoff struck out the first two batters of the frame, Monaghan singled and Jeff Grantham walked, chasing Munninghoff. A.J. Upton entered and allowed an RBI single to Zayas and a three-run bomb to Vogl, his second of the day, which produced the final margin.
Seniors DeLuca, Hayes, Mark Muscenti, Jack Nelson, Parker, Wood, and manager Joe Albert were honored in pre-game Senior Day ceremonies.
The seventh-seeded Bearcats will open the 2006 BIG EAST Tournament in , , on Tuesday, May 23, against . Game time is yet to be determined.