By Dylan Butler
“Our goal at home is to sweep but our goal on the road is to win 2-out-of-3, which we did yesterday,” St. John's senior catcher Joe Burke said. “It's just disappointing because we know we can take this team 3-out-of-3 any given day.”Starter Rob Delaney, who came into the game with a 4-0 record and a 1.72 earned run average, didn't get out of the third inning. The junior righty gave up seven earned runs on 8 hits, including 5 runs in the third inning that put Seton Hall (12-25, 5-11 Big East) in front, 7-0.Justin Muir came in for Delaney, but he gave up 1 earned run on 3 hits, walked 4 and threw 2 wild pitches in 2.2 innings. James Lally struggled finding the plate, walking the first two batters he faced before getting Dan Doyle to ground out into an inning-ending double play.Seton Hall senior Joe Haggerty is the Pirates' No. 3 starter, but as far as St. John's coach Ed Blankmeyer is concerned, he is the club's ace. He wasn't overpowering but he threw strikes and improved to 4-5, giving up 3 runs – 2 earned – on 9 hits while striking out 3 and walking 2 in 8 innings.St. John's (26-12, 11-3) had plenty of chances to get back into the game, but they took themselves out of each rally. The Red Storm loaded the bases with 1 out in the second inning, but Sam DeLuca lined out to right field and Jim Martin flew out to left.In the third and fifth inning, Blake Herselman grounded out into inning-ending double plays, Anthony Smith grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the sixth and after the Johnnies had runners at first and second with one out, P.J. Antoniato flew out to right and Greg Thomson grounded out to second in the seventh.Even in the ninth inning, when DeLuca walked and pinch hitter Gil Zayas reached on an error, Pirates reliever Luis Fernandez struck out Antoniato and Thomson before Herselman popped out to center to end the game.”They jumped us early and we didn't recover quick enough,” Blankmeyer said. “We took ourselves out with some poor at-bats and hit into three double plays. We couldn't get anything going.”St. John's 6, Seton Hall 1. Anthony Varvaro struck out 13, giving up 1 run on 4 hits in 7 innings to win his sixth straight for the Red Storm in the opener of a doubleheader Saturday at Seton Hall. The Red Storm scored 6 runs on 8 hits-all singles-including 4 runs in the first inning.St. John's 5, Seton Hall 3. Burke and Thomson each hit home runs, Craig Hansen came in and recorded a three-inning save, his seventh of the year and Jim Wladyka (4-1) picked up the win in the nightcap for the Red Storm.Reach Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
