NCAA BASEBALL

Oregon St. 11

St. John’s 1

St. John’s baseball coach Ed Blankmeyer knew Oregon State had to be good in order to win the Pac 10, which boasts programs such as South Cal and Arizona State. Last night he found out just how good the Beavers are.

Behind the dominating pitching of Jonah Nickerson, St. John’s absorbed an 11-1 loss to the top-seeded Beavers in the NCAA Tournament in Corvallis, Ore. The Red Storm (40-17) are one loss away from having their season end.

Nickerson went the distance, throwing 123 pitches and not allowing a walk. He didn’t allow a run until the ninth. By then he had an 11-0 lead and St. John’s was well aware of the task at hand.

The Red Storm must beat Ohio State today in a loser’s bracket game, and then beat the Beavers on their home turf to force a one-game playoff tomorrow. The Beavers have yet to lose – and if they continue to get the kind of pitching they got against St. John’s, they could be bound for the College World Series in Omaha.

“The guy [Nickerson] didn’t walk a batter; he didn’t do anything to beat himself,” Blankmeyer said. “They swung the bats well and got the 11 runs, but they could have gotten one run, and with the way he was pitching, that would have been the ball game.”

St. John’s thought pitching was its strong suit going into postseason play. But the Red Storm learned when they left for Oregon that ace Anthony Varvaro will have to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the torn medial collateral ligament in his right elbow.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Varvaro said last night. “People can come back from this. It’s more common now than it used to be. I’ll be back.”

Yesterday’s starter, Jim Wladyka of Rutherford, N.J., wasn’t particularly sharp. He was tagged for four runs (three earned) on five hits in 41/3 innings, walking three and striking out just one.