March 25, 2004
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - It may have been a cold and windy day at Alumni Field on Tuesday afternoon, for the Fairfield University baseball team's 2004 home opener, but the St. John's bats stayed hot, as the Red Storm defeated the Stags 10-3, in a non-conference game on Tuesday.
St. John's improves to 8-8 overall, while Fairfield falls to 2-6.
The Red Storm jumped on top in the second inning when Blake Hershelman singled through the left side. After advancing to second on a wild pitch, Hershelman scored when Eddie Schultz laced a double to center.
St. John's added a pair of runs in the third, and then added three more in the top of the fifth to take a 6-0 lead. St. John's starter Anthony Varvaro was perfect through three innings, and didn't allow a hit until there was one out in the fifth.
Fairfield got to Varvaro in the fourth inning, where there were runners on first and third with one out. However, he got senior Sal Mancuso (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) to ground out, forcing the runner at second. The throw to first was not in time, but the first baseman threw to home, to get senior Nick Hudyma (New Britain, Conn./New Britain) at the plate.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Fairfield pushed across three runs, to cut the lead to 6-3. Andy Lynn walked, and with one out Mancuso reached on an error, putting runners on the corners. Senior Antuan Barnett the sent a 3-2 pitch over the centerfield fence for his xxth homerun of the season.
The Red Storm added four runs in the top of the ninth to break the game open.
The Stags senior Pablo Tamayo (Miami, Fla./Ransom Everglades) was tagged with his fourth loss of the season. Tamayo gave up three runs on five hits and one walk, while striking out two St. John's hitters.
