Kyle Hansen ended up with a sub.-500 winning percentage this year in the regular season courtesy of subpar run support. The St. John’s star pitcher certainly deserved better when you look closer at his numbers.
“Early in the season, we struggled offensively for the guy,” coach Ed Blankmeyer said.
The Red Storm bats made up for it when it counted.
No. 3 St. John’s pounded out 16 hits in an 11-3 drubbing of No. 2 East Carolina in its NCAA tournament opener yesterday afternoon in the Chapel Hill Regional. The top three batters in the lineup — Kyle Richardson, Jimmy Brennan and Matt Wessinger — combined to go 7-for-15 with six RBIs and six batters had multi-hit games. St. John’s, which has won five straight, meets top-seed North Carolina, ranked sixth in the country by Baseball America, in the double-elimination regional 6 p.m. tonight.
“I think we came in very confident off winning the Big East championship,” left fielder Jeremy Baltz said.
Baltz had a home run, a double and three runs scored and Sean O’Hare and Wessinger both had three hits against East Carolina (35-23-1).
Hansen was the beneficiary.
The 6-foot-7 flamethrower put together his second straight postseason gem, giving up just three runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. Last weekend, Hansen gave up one run on five hits in 7 1/3 to lead St. John’s into the Big East tournament finals.
St. John’s (38-21) is now one win away from putting itself in the driver’s seat as it tries to advance out of an NCAA Regional for the first time since it made the College World Series in 1980.
No. 4 Stony Brook 10, No. 1 Miami 2
Junior Maxx Tissenbaum had three hits and three RBIs and senior Tyler Johnson allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings as Stony Brook (47-11) picked up its second NCAA tournament win in program history in the Coral Gables Regional. It meets Central Florida tonight at 7 p.m.
No. 1 South Carolina 7, No. 4 Manhattan 0
Senior right-hander Taylor Sewitt carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning but gave up four runs in the frame as the Jaspers were blanked by the defending national champion. Manhattan (33-26) meets Coastal Carolina in the Columbia Regional loser’s bracket contest today at noon.
