Morris, Kemp selected in MLB draft

Posted by Bill San Antonio

Red Storm baseball players Tim Morris and Brian Kemp were both selected on day two of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Louisville to host baseball Regional

Posted by Bill San Antonio

For the first time in the program’s history, the Louisville Cardinals baseball team will host one of the 16 NCAA Regionals in the 2009 NCAA tournament.

Red Storm baseball looking for rebound

Posted By Matt Choquette

Despite riding the high from christening the brand new Citi Field on Sunday, dropping the Big East series with Georgetown is also fresh on their minds.

“We have to rebound from this series loss and we’ll start rolling,” said senior co-captain Brian Kemp after the Citi Field game on Sunday.

Kemp and the Johnnies are off on the right foot after dominating LIU on Tuesday. The trip to Brooklyn produced 18 hits and St. John’s took the midweek contest 16-4.

When it comes to the consistency head coach Ed Blankmeyer is looking for, a 16-4 result is something he can get used to.

“I’m more concerned with the ball club and getting better,” he said after the Citi Field loss. “We show some signs of doing good things, but we’re just not consistent enough yet to be a good ball club.”

If Eddie Medina and the other freshmen pitchers start throwing like this, getting on a roll shouldn’t be too hard. In six innings, Medina allowed two unearned runs, five hits and two walks, allowing his offense to take over the game.

St. John’s took the only lead they would need in the top of the first. First baseman Tim Morris led off with a single. With the hit-and-run on, Greg Hopkins singled and moved to second on the throw while Morris held at third.

A sacrifice fly by Joe Panik and an RBI single by Paul Karmas made the score 2-1 St. John’s.

Gino Matias went 1-for-1 with a run scored and an RBI coming off the bench for St. John's.

Other offensive stars of the game were Jimmy Parque (3-for-5, 4 RBIs) and Kemp (2-for-3, 3 runs).

Kevin Kilpatrick picked up his second save of the season after throwing three innings for the Storm.

The team is back home today at 3 p.m. when they host NYIT.

BOX SCORE: ST. JOHN’S 16 — LIU 4

Live from the heart of the Citi

Posted by Anthony Morreale

The Torch is here covering the 50th baseball game between St. John’s and Georgetown.

It is also the first-ever game played at Queens’ new ballpark paradise, Citifield.

Here you will find some thoughts and musings about the game and stadium, complete with some blurry photos.

This is the office of Mr. Met found in the bowels of the stadium.

Mr. Met's office where he does his deepest thinking

Ex-Met and Johnnie John Franco threw out the game’s first pitch: an 0-2 curve ball in the dirt.

John Franco talks to reporters

“I’m just glad they got a new ballpark,” Franco said. “It’s about time that happened. Shea Stadium was a great place, but things were starting to fall apart there.”

For those worried that the ole’ Shea Sweet Caroline tradition would be forever lost in rubble of the old stadium can breathe easy. Neil Diamond made an appearance (on the PA)  in the middle of the 4th inning. Good times never felt so good. So good.

7th inning stretch update:

Heading into the bottom of the 7th inning, the Red Storm lead Georgetown 4-2.

Here is a brief list of Citifield firsts.

The first hit in stadium history came off the bat of Georgetown shortstop Tom Elliot in the bottom 1st. Elliot lined a Brendan Lobban 3-1 pitch into center field.

The first strikeout was of Georgetown’s Sean Baumann in the bottom of the first. St. John’s freshman Lobban got Baumann looking on an 0-2 count.

Georgetown’s Sean Lamont hit the stadium’s first homer in the bottom of the 3rd. Lamont muscled a 0-0 pitch from Lobban over the leftfield wall.

Citifield seats will be available

Posted by Anthony Morreale

The Torch has learned that the University will be making tickets to the first game at Citifield available to its students.

Read about it here.

Citifield seats sold out

Posted by Anthony Morreale

The New York Mets  have announced that tickets to St. John’s/Georgetown baseball game that will mark the inaugural game at Citifield on March 29 sold out with 45 minutes of going on sale.

It is currently unknown as to whether or not the University purchased any tickets to the game and will make them available to students via Campus Concierge or the ticket office.

Big East Baseball in the CS

Posted by Bill San Antonio

What do Brad Lidge and Kevin Youkilis have in common? Other than that they’re both participants in the 2008 Major League Baseball playoffs as members of the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox, respectively, and that they were both All-Stars this past July, they are the only two players on Championship Series’ rosters to have played for Big East conference teams.

Lidge spent his college career at Notre Dame, where he was the Big East Player of the Year in his junior season. This year, as a member of the Phillies, he earned the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award for converting 41 saves in 41 opportunities and posting a 1.95 ERA. This accomplishment earned him the nickname “Lights-Out.”

Lidge nearly lost his psychological ability to pitch after giving up a towering home run to Albert Pujols during the 2005 NLCS while with the Houston Astros. It is believed that the move from Houston to Philadelphia allowed Lidge to start fresh. He made one save at Houston this season.

Youkilis played his college ball at Cincinnati, where he set the school record for home runs (53), walks (206), slugging percentage (.627), and on-base percentage (.429). His plate discipline carried over into the minor leagues, where he caught the attention of Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane and was a prime example of the inexpensive talent (he was drafted in the eighth round of the MLB Draft and was relatively unknown to Red Sox management at the time) Beane was looking to build his Athletics teams around. While Beane wasn’t able to deal for Youkilis, Michael Lewis featured him in his 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Today, Youkilis is a prominent fixture in the Red Sox lineup.

Author’s Note: Cincinnati has been a part of the Big East conference since 2005. Kevin Youkilis excelled at Cincinnati in 2000 and 2001, when he was a second team All America selection-when Cincinnati was still part of Conference-USA. Youk’ is Big East by current association.