By Dylan Butler
Heading into the final weekend of conference play, three teams are still vying for the fourth and final spot in the Big East baseball tournament.
St. John’s isn’t one of them.
For the fourth straight year, the Red Storm narrowly missed out on the tournament after being mathematically eliminated from contention Saturday by Boston College.
St. John’s (27-25, 11-12) needed to sweep the Eagles just to stay alive, but Boston College dashed its postseason hopes early, winning the opening game of the three-game series, 3-2, at the Ballpark at St. John’s.
Once again the hard-luck loser for the Red Storm was junior Joe Reid, who was dominant for the third straight conference outing. But yet again, Reid didn’t get the offensive support as the Red Storm left seven runners on base and had runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings only to come up empty.
Boston College (29-20, 11-10) jumped ahead 3-0 before the Red Storm rallied late. Blake Hershelman and Anthony DeRosa hit RBI-singles in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 3-2, but that was as close as St. John’s would get.
Reid dropped to 2-3, giving up three runs — two earned — on six hits while striking out seven and walking four.
St. John’s pounded the Eagles in the nightcap as freshman Anthony Varvaro tossed a complete-game shutout in a 13-0 victory.
Greg Thompson belted a pair of home runs, Eddie Schultz was 3-for-5 with three runs scored, and Hershelman was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored for the Red Storm.
Varvaro gave up five hits, struck out seven and walked four to improve to 4-5 and was named co-Big East Pitcher of the Week, sharing the honors with West Virginia’s Shawn Miller.
The Red Storm received a third straight solid outing from the hill Sunday in a 3-1 win as senior southpaw Tom Klemm went seven innings, giving up one run on nine hits while striking out four to improve to 5-3. Mike Tamulionis tossed two innings of scoreless relief to pick up his second save of the year.
The Red Storm scored all of its runs in the third inning, capped by a two-run single through the left side of the infield by Mike Rozema.
After closing out its home schedule with Senior Night against New York Tech Thursday at 7 p.m., the Red Storm closes out its conference slate with a three-game weekend series at Seton Hall.
SJU track closes home schedule strong
For the St. John’s men’s track team, it was the final time they would compete on campus after it was announced in December the program would be cut. And for several athletes, it was a chance to go out on a high note.
Junior distance runner Sean Tremblay finished first in the steeplechase with a time of 9:53.56, and senior Dietrech Washington took first in the shot put with a toss of 14.04 meters.
The Red Storm also took the first two spots in the 400 meter race as junior Dewayne Barrett won in 47.53, followed by junior Mohamed Kanu in 48.33.
Junior Andy Mitchell finished second overall in the 800 meter race with a time of 1:51.58, and the 4×400 relay team capped the day finishing first in 3:16.75.
Shernette Hyatt-Davis had a career day for the St. John’s women’s track team. She placed second overall in the women’s 100, 200 and 400 meter events and was part of the first-place 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
