St. John’s baseball coach gains honor

Another superb season earned St. John’s baseball coach Ed Blankmeyer the 2007 Northeast Regional Coach of the Year Award, the American Baseball Coaches Association announced this week. In his 12th season at the Jamaica school, Blankmeyer led the Red Storm to a third consecutive 40-win season and doubled up on Big East and Northeast Regional Coach of the Year awards for the second time in three seasons.
It was not all easy navigating. St. John’s started the season 0-7, only to battle their way into the NCAA Tournament for the 30th time in program history, eighth most of any school in the nation.
Blankmeyer saw a school record eight players earn All-Big East honors and led the Red Storm to a share of the regular season title. The team was ranked as high as No. 23 in Baseball America’s national rankings and had one player, outfielder Anthony Smith, drafted in the 21st round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and two others, second baseman Sam DeLuca (New York Mets) and Brendan Monaghan (Baltimore Orioles), picked up as non-drafted free agents.
Prior to the 2005 campaign, just one St. John’s team had won 40 games in a single season, and since then, three straight teams have posted 40 or more wins - all under Blankmeyer’s watch.
- Zachary Braziller