CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — St. John’s scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning and went on to beat Mississippi 20-16 Sunday in a wild Charlottesville Regional elimination game.
The Red Storm (42-19) earned the chance to play host Virginia later in the day.
St. John’s sent 14 men to the plate in the first, when every batter in the lineup reached at least once, and added a pair of five-run innings as they finished with 22 hits.
Ole Miss lost despite 18 hits and 16 runs, and scored 10 runs in the last three frames. Matt Snyder homered twice, including a grand slam with two out in the ninth, for the Rebels.
Bruce Kern (7-5) worked six innings, allowing 13 hits and seven runs, for the victory.
Starter David Goforth (1-6) allowed seven runs in 2-3 of an inning for Mississippi (39-24), which was hoping to avenge a home loss to Virginia in the super regional last year.
Matt Wessinger had four hits and drove in five runs for St. John’s, and leadoff man Jimmy Brennan had four hits and drove in four runs. Joe Panik had three hits, including the Red Storm’s only home run, and drove in three, giving the top three hitters in the lineup a combined line of 11 for 16 with 12 runs batted in and six extra-base hits.
Ole Miss answered the big first inning with three runs in the second and single runs in the third, fourth and fifth, but the Red Storm scored once each in the fourth and fifth and then broke the game open for good with five more runs in the sixth. Brennan had his second two-run hit in the rally, and Panik followed two batters later with his 10th home run.
When the Rebels made it interesting with four runs in the top of the eighth to get within 15-11, the Red Storm tacked on five insurance runs in the bottom half.
It hardly mattered. The Rebels answered with five of their own in the top of the ninth, four scoring on Snyder’s slam, before Stephen Rivera got Zach Miller to ground out to end it.
Kern, who started the day with a 5.91 ERA, gave the Red Storm the long outing they needed after being staked to the huge lead, especially with the potential for playing two more games in the regional if they were able to beat the Cavaliers at night.
He was lifted with a 15-6 lead after allowing two hits to start the seventh, and Ryan Cole allowed one of them to score, and then four more runs in the eighth.
Closer Daniel Burawa came on to start the ninth, but loaded the bases with one out, walked in a run and was replaced by Rivera.
