QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John’s baseball team (10-16) came up short to California Baptist (23-5) in game two of a three-game series at Jack Kaiser Stadium, 5-3, on Saturday afternoon.
Jon LeGrande paced the offense with a 2-for-4 performance, scoring twice and swiping a base. Shaun McMillan, Jayder Raifstanger, and Adam Agresti each recorded an RBI, while Lewis Rodriguez accounted for the Red Storm’s final run.
On the mound, Evan Chaffee turned in 5.0 innings, allowing four runs while striking out four. Evan Hoeckele took over in the sixth and finished the game, tossing 4.0 innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts.
After two clean, three-up, three-down innings to start, the Lancers threatened in the top of the third. With two outs, CBU loaded the bases on a trio of singles, but the Red Storm defense came through, highlighted by a key play from Raifstanger to keep the game scoreless.
CBU broke through in the fourth, plating four runs on a pair of RBI doubles and a sacrifice fly RBI. St. John’s responded in the bottom half, as LeGrande singled up the middle, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error. McMillan drove LeGrande home with an RBI single through the right side to make it 4-1.
Chaffee wrapped up his outing in the fifth with a final strikeout, aided by solid defense to hold the Lancers in check.
After a scoreless sixth, CBU added to its lead in the seventh on an RBI single from Cole Hansen, pushing the score to 5-1. The Red Storm answered in the eighth, with Raifstanger driving in Rodriguez on a single up the middle and Agresti lined an RBI hit to left to score LeGrande and cut the deficit to 5-3.
St. John’s turned in a quick 1-2-3 inning in the ninth behind Hoeckele, but the late push fell short as the Red Storm dropped a 5-3 decision to the Lancers.
Following Saturday’s contest, St. John’s will close out the weekend series against California Baptist on Sunday. First pitch from Jack Kaiser Stadium is set for 11 a.m.